Overall U.S. food inflation and seafood inflation continued to dampen consumer spending power in March, pushing down retail seafood sales. However, private label seafood product sales are on the upswing, along with overall food and restaurant sales.
Fresh seafood prices realized “a small uptick” of 2.6 percent in March 2023 versus March 2022, 210 Analytics Principal Anne-Marie Roerink said, citing Circana data.
“Only fresh finfish still had lingering inflation of 5.2 percent when compared to March 2022 pricing levels,” she said, adding fresh shellfish prices declined 2 percent for the month.
Frozen seafood prices inclined 3.2 percent in March 2022, while ambient inflation increased 3.8 percent.
Seafood inflation rose 2.6 percent in March compared to March 2022, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index, but fell 1.1 percent in March compared to February. The overall food index was unchanged from February to March and the food at home index fell 0.3 percent, the BLS said.
