Australians are snapping up lobsters for their Christmas feasts, shrugging off price increases to secure their share of the premium seafood.
In supermarkets, small thawed lobsters are currently fetching around $25 per lobster, with premium large live lobsters setting some consumers back over $100 per kilogram.
The industry’s outlook is the brightest in years, buoyed by strong domestic sales and the imminent reopening of the Chinese market.
The Lobster Pot, a regional South Australian seafood retail store, has been inundated with inquiries.
Reece Sutherland says lobsters of all sizes have been in demand. (ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
“This week, coming up to Christmas and New Year’s, it’s pretty much permanently on the phone with people taking orders,” manager Reese Sutherland said.
The store first opened its doors partly in response to the Chinese lobster ban.
Since then the business has maintained a steady trade, allowing locals to eat local produce.
Even as household budgets tighten amid the cost-of-living crisis, Mr Sutherland has noticed customers’ appetite for seafood remains strong.
“People are super grateful and we are selling a range from our more budget options to the premium lobsters,” he said.
“But they are after more than just lobsters — fish, prawns and oysters we are selling a lot of as well.”
Early Christmas for fishers
James Green says despite high demand, the business does not generally see a price bump around Christmas. (ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
The lifting of the ban has been a welcome early Christmas present for fishers, who have been waiting for trade to resume since it first closed in 2020.
Southern Rock Lobster professional lobster fisher James Green said he had already seen a difference in the prices received for his product in the last 48 hours, rising by $5 per kilogram.
“To be quite honest it was almost immediate,” he said.
Mr Green was told by buyers the increased prices were as much to do with domestic demand as international demand.
However, after years of deflated prices, he said any rise was a welcome development for fishers.
“Hopefully it means good things to come as far as making us all a bit more profitable,” he said.
“There’s a bit more positivity because now the buyers and the exporters are saying that they’ve got more options to be able to sell their fish.”
Wait almost over
The managing director of lobster retailer and exporter Ferguson Australia, Andrew Ferguson, said those in the industry would be breathing a sigh of relief this Christmas.
“It’s a great feeling to have that resolved,” he said.
“There is nothing worse than that feeling of the unknown.”
These lobsters may now be heading to China. (ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
While Mr Ferguson has already been receiving interest from his Chinese contacts, he said it would take time to rebuild trade connections.
“I’m hearing all sorts of things … we already know that China’s not the place economically it was four years ago,” he said.
“Everyone’s mindset has changed.”
In the meantime, the business has been flat out filling orders in its highest domestic demand week of the year.
Mr Ferguson did not expect prices to rise to pre-pandemic levels, but said it may still be a good time for Australians to get their feed of lobster while they could.
“Maybe in the future we won’t see ridiculous prices in the local market like we were seeing when everything was going to China,” he said.
“We’ll just see how things play out.”
