28 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIE'// 



Vol. 13, No. 7 



Fresh processed fishery products prices in May declined 1.2 percent as compared 

 to April and were 7.2 percent higher than in May 1950. Prices for fresh haddock fil- 

 lets during the month rose 2.8 percent above April and were 1.6 percent higher than 

 in May a year earlier. Although fresh headless shrimp prices have been rising stead- 

 ily since December 1950 and in May this jrear increased even more (3,4 percent above 

 April), they were still 4.0 percent below May 1950. 



In spite of ample cold storage stocks, processed frozen fish and shellfish prices 

 in May rose 0.3 psrcent above April, but were 1.2 percent lower than in May 1950. 

 From April to May the substantial increases in frozen flounder fillet prices (7.8 per- 

 cent) , frozen headless shrimp (3.3 percent), and frozen haddock fillets (1.1 percent) 

 were offset by a substantial drop in frozen ocean perch fillets (7.4 percent). Fro- 

 zen headless shrimp prices have been steadily increasing since January this year, but 

 in May, quotations were 13.4 percent below the corresponding month a year earlier; 

 and frozen haddock fillet prices this May were 7.4 percent lower than in May 1950. On 

 the other hand, this May's quotations for frozen flounder fillets and ocean perch fil- 

 lets were higher than in May 1950 by 17.1 percent and 20.0 percent, respectively. 



Canned fishery products prices in May were only slightly above April entirely 

 due to an increase in Maine sardines. The month's index for this subgroup was 0.3 

 percent higher than in April and 35.3 percent above May 1950. Prices of all canned 

 products under this subgroup during May continued to hold steady at February levels 

 except for Maine canned sardines vAiich increased 3.4 percent frcm April to May, Al- 

 though this latter product has increased steadily since March, prices q.uoted this May 

 were still 3,5 percent lower than the same month a year earlier. 



RETAIL PRICES . MAY 1951 i Average retail price increases for all foods were 

 higher on May 15 than for all fishery products . Between mid-April and mid-May, moder- 

 ate-income urban families paid sane 0.8 percent more for all foods than they did for 

 the previous 30-day period, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U,S, De- 

 partment of Labor. Since the percentage increase for all foods was greater than 

 that for all fishery products, p?ices for all food products, other than fish, rose 

 higher than prices for fishery products. The price index for all foods in mid-May 

 was 227.4 percent of the 1935-39 average, some 13,8 percent higher than the corres- 

 ponding period of 1950 (see table 2), 



Retail prices paid for all fish and shellfish (fresh, frozen, and canned) aver- 

 aged 353.1 percent of the 1935-39 average, a rise of 0.4 percent over the mid-April 

 average, and 20.2 percent above the same period of the previous year. 



Following the same trend as at wholesale, average fresh and frozen fish prices 

 at retail on May 15 were 0,2 percent higher than April 15 and 8.4 percent over mid- 

 May 1950, 



