Visit Urner Barry in Boston at Booth 364 Visit VOLUME 10 / NUMBER 2 / SPRING 2015 / QUARTERLY Urner Barry in Brussels at the newsmagazine for the food industry professional Booth 6-842 2014 U.S. shrimp imports post third highest volume ever Imported shrimp shipments to the U.S. in 2014 reached the third The summer of 2013 saw tight supplies forcing prices to record highest volume ever reported. This production emerged from high levels. Urner Barry’s White Shrimp Index, for example, historic, disease-induced declines in 2012 and eclipsed $6.00 per pound for the first time ever. 2013. Combine this with favorable currency These record high prices would continue to trends and the result was increased shrimp sales “… IN 2014 THE hold well into 2014, peaking at about $6.25 per and lowered prices in the market (Chart 1). PRODUCTION LANDSCAPE pound (Chart 3). SHIFTED AND FULL Prior to 2014, Thailand served as the chief YEAR SHRIMP IMPORTS However, in 2014 the production landscape shrimp supplier to the U.S. However, a two year TO THE U.S. REACHED shifted and full year shrimp imports to the U.S. battle with the shrimp disease known as Early 1.25 BILLION POUNDS.” reached 1.25 billion pounds. This was a 12 Mortality Syndrome (EMS) proved to slash Thai percent—or 140 million pound—increase from production. By the end of 2013, Thai shrimp 2013 and the third highest imported shrimp shipments to the U.S. fell over 38 percent and total U.S. imports volume to ever reach the U.S. finished the year down about 5 percent (Chart 2). Continued on page 66 The retail recap and resolution ... What’s in store for retail meat and poultry in 2015? The 2014 year in retail was certainly without equal. It was a year in which unique circumstances propelled each protein category into uncharted waters, reaching new all-time highs and resulting in market fluctuations that were astonishing at best, debilitating at worst. Grocers were presented with the unhappy task of managing record high feature prices amidst supply constraints, while maintaining customer interest and attention at the meat case. 2014 could undoubtedly be called the year of the chicken—a sentiment that was widely predicted even before the year began. With uncertain supply Continued on page 71 ©iStockphoto.com/camij On the inside 13 Keeping 20 Earth’s 70 Urner Barry quality in the southernmost babies spotlight continent Several UB Patrons have An Urner Barry staff members shown they alum goes to celebrated new are willing study what arrivals, and we to pay more effect climate are welcoming for premium change is them here. burgers. having on the Prepare to ecosystem. say Aw! 2 • URNER BARRY’S REPORTER / VOL. 10, NO. 2 / SPRING 2015 URNER BARRY’S REPORTER • VOL. 10, NO. 2 • SPRING 2015 Center of the plate the newsmagazine for the food industry professional Page 1 PUBLISHER Paul Brown Jr. 2014 U.S. shrimp imports post third highest SENIOR EDITOR Russ Whitman volume ever MANAGING EDITOR Joe Muldowney CONTRIBUTORS Page 1 Sandra Bailey Russell Barton What’s in store for retail Nicole Bessemer Jamie Chadwick meat and poultry in Jim Kenny Brian Moscogiuri 2015? Gary Morrison News bites Jake Muldowney James Patterson 6 OH SNAP! Does the expression “First of the month” Phillip Potter Main ingredients still even apply? Michael Ramsingh Angel Rubio 11 Clemens expanding pork processing operations 8 Eating a high protein John Sackton breakfast to reduce Adam Sharkey 18 What’s the difference between white and Bill Smith cravings Curt Thacker brown eggs? Terence Wells 10 Trade agreements that Kim Wheeler 20 Palmer Station, Antarctica are worth your time MaryAnn Zicarelli 22 CAB carcass weights edge higher 12 Buffalo ildW Wings year in COPY EDITORS review Jamie Chadwick 26 Russia: conflict, Linda Lindner sanctions, inflation and 13 High beef costs promote quality new friends ART DIRECTOR casual burgers Glenn F. Juszczak 28 Unforeseen variables 15 Urner Barry video turns five PRODUCTION MANAGER and poultry pricing Chris Ashley 19 A whole new price point for retail shoppers 32 Aquaculture ASSOCIATE DESIGNER opportunities for 24 How price fluctuations influence category choices Maria Morales livestock barns, other 25 Crab meat–overseas supply proves to be ADVERTISING buildings “good and plenty” Liz Cuozzo 36 The shipping industry 30 The menu adoption cycle. How you can leverage– Janice Schreiber looks to get back and predict–the changing food trend landscape Terence Wells in black 40 American live lobster SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION - 800-932-0617 42 Panama Canal update 58 UB presents market trends in growing markets 43 Winter slide in hog prices could temper herd Obsono enters its 15th year of service expansion, late 2015 slaughters 68 44 What to know about cattle herd expansion A la carte Urner Barry’s Reporter (ISSN 1944771X) is published 46 Ensuring your business is insured a Q&A with quarterly by Urner Barry Publications, 182 Queens Foa & Son’s Michael Lieberman 4 Are fresh groceries a retail panacea? Boulevard, Bayville, NJ 08721. Periodicals Postage Paid at Bayville, NJ 08721 and additional offices. 48 The cattle cycle–excerpt from Urner Barry’s new 9 Resurrecting the aurochs POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Urner Beef Book Barry’s Reporter, 182 Queens Boulevard, Bayville, 14 Restaurants trim menus, push customization NJ 08721. 50 AEB grows egg consumption 16 The future of food shopping Subscription to Urner Barry’s Reporter is free. Mail 52 NYC’s famous fish market gets digital makeover via subscription orders and changes to Urner Barry’s 34 Preppers–a growing market Reporter, Subscription Department, 182 Queens online sales portal Boulevard, Bayville, NJ 08721 or call 800-932-0617. 38 The millennial boom on 54 Zone management Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright © 2015 the food industry 56 Slew of seafood products set to debut during Tel. 732-240-5330 • Fax 732-341-0891 55 Cuban thaw heats up www.urnerbarry.com • [email protected] 2015 Boston expo U.S. grain market Nothing may be reproduced in whole or part 60 NFI’s global seafood market conference grows without written permission from the publisher. 62 Urner Barry’s 1st annual 64 Mexican Beef–Exports rebound in 2014 Sunday gravy challenge 69 Egg prices soar as prop. 2 goes into effect 70 Urner Barry baby boom bpaww.com VOL. 10, NO. 2 / SPRING 2015 / URNER BARRY’S REPORTER • 3 Trading margins for consistency may be a winning strategy ... Are fresh groceries a retail panacea? By now, memories of the 20th century for many of us are fading with one of the most prominent examples being Target. Yet, the fast. Few of us can remember with any clarity a time when our truth hasn’t changed—groceries are a lower-margin, higher-cost Christmas presents and movies were anything less than a business. So, one might ask, why bother? click away. Consumers in the U.S. have seen the retail landscape change drastically from what they saw even Let’s look at how the retail landscape has changed in just 20 years ago. Today, in a world of supercenters the last few decades. According to the U.S. Census and one-stop shops, it’s important to remember how Bureau, nearly 7% of retail sales now take place we got here and why. online, with consumers having more access to information about new products and accessories It is difficult to talk about historical and right from their couch. Many retailers are currently contemporary American retail without mentioning victims of a phenomenon called “showrooming,” Sears and Walmart, by far two of the most which is when someone walks into the store, finds significant enterprises in the area. Back in the 90s, an item they like, hunts online for a lower price, and when Walmart made the decision to push forth buys it elsewhere. This is something that can occur with extending its groceries program to its national with consumer electronics, digital media, children’s and international network of stores, many Wall Street toys or even appliances, but this writer struggles to see analysts were squeamish. Few went to bed with visions of something similar working with a banana or a steak. sugar plums in their head, and those that did saw the sugar plums eating into margins and P/E ratios. Why would Walmart, The brilliance of incorporating fresh groceries such as meats, a darling blue-chip company, deliberately depress its margins by fruits and vegetables into stores’ offerings lies in something that selling groceries? has grown ever more valuable since the advent of the practically omnipresent internet—foot traffic. People will walk into the store It’s not just Walmart, either—most national or seminational more often, regardless of what they want or need, and often retailers now have at least some commitment to fresh groceries, irrespective of the economic outlook or environment, simply ©iStockphoto.com/gpointstudio 35 YEARS OF NATIONAL SERVICE WITH PRIDE TRADERS OF A FULL LINE OF FRESH & FROZEN POULTRY PRODUCTS Alan Singer Hector Perez 25 West Union Street 320 Miracle Mile, Suite 202 Ashland, MA 01721 Coral Gables, FL 33134 Tel. 508-231-1426 Tel. 305-620-0700 Fax 508-231-5256 Fax 305-620-0366 Egil J. Brull Jr. Puerto Rico Tel. 787-277-3000 Fax 787-277-3002 4 • URNER BARRY’S REPORTER / VOL. 10, NO. 2 / SPRING 2015 Annual Salesof $SHLD, $WMT & $TGT SHLD TGT WMT* Trading margins for consistency may be a winning strategy ... $80,000 $70,000 because groceries typically represent consumer needs. So, while $60,000 both Walmart and a competing electronics retailer might, for $50,000 example, both be suffering from reduced TV sales in an economic $40,000 downturn, consumers still go to Walmart to buy dinner.