Alaska Salmon Industry and Japan

Abstract

Until the late 1980s, Alaska and Canadian wild salmon were the only significant sources of high-quality salmon available to Japan, and Alaska and Canada accounted for an overwhelming share of Japanese salmon imports. That has changed. Japanese processors and consumers have begun to treat farmed Chilean coho as a viable substitute for sockeye. In the past few years, imports from Chile have grown substantially. Chile and other salmon farming countries have the potential to vastly expand their production and their exports to Japan. Japanese imports of salmon from Russia have also grown rapidly. As a result of these changes, the U.S. import share has fallen substantially, from 85 percent in 1987 to less than 60 percent in 1992. We have suffered a very substantial decline in our market share in just a few years. New patterns of supply are not the only changes in the Japanese salmon market. Changes are also happening in consumer demand Japanese consumers, like consumers all over the world, are increasingly demanding higher quality and more variety in the food products that they eat. They are beginning to eat more meat products. This presentation includes graphical data regarding various aspects of harvests, prices, exports for fresh and frozen salmon. Presented at a forum on the Alaska Fishing Industry and Japan at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Thursday, September 23, 1993.