Moderating consumer food prices could fuel a turnaround in the fortunes of US seafood producers, but any significant improvement isn't likely until the second half of the year at the earliest, according to Wells Fargo.
Seafood producers have not yet been able to overcome the "abnormal market behaviors" the industry has experience since COVID, David Branch, Wells Fargo's agri-food institute sector manager, said in a first quarter update on food trends in the United States.
While wholesale prices for both finfish and shellfish reached record highs during the pandemic and into 2021, they fell to troubling lows in 2022 and into 2023.
