# Why is canned salmon so expensive now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606 "2020-08-20T21:52:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/1 "2020-08-20T21:52:44Z")
I like eating fish, and try to include it in my diet frequently. A lot of local grocery stores sell many types of frozen fillets at very reasonable prices. I don’t usually buy canned salmon, though I like it. Been a few years. Seems to be $5 for a half pound can, more expensive than the fresh stuff. Since my town is a bit of a food bellwether, I bet it’s true elsewhere. Any specific reason? Maybe it’s more popular with the pandemic and increasing desire for healthy food? Or.maybe it’s s locsl thing here in Upper Canada? ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/2 "2020-08-20T22:23:41Z")
That sounds about right to me. You could try canned mackerel if you’re a really cheap b\*\*\*\*\*d like me. But even that has been getting a little pricey lately. It used to be super cheap. Oh, what is the reason? I’ll give that stupid cop out answer from Econ 101: supply and demand. Or maybe it’s just inflation. [_Rant about governments lying about true inflation rates for groceries omitted_.] ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/3 "2020-08-20T22:26:33Z")
Probably. But frozen salmon is cheap and seems a lot more labour intensive once you throw in refrigerated trucks and grocery store needs. Frozen salmon can easily be 25% of the price of canned here. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/4 "2020-08-20T23:47:38Z")
Seems like the price increase started mid-2018 and it’s now solidly 50% higher than it was in the past. [Retail prices canned salmon Canada 2022 | Statista](https://www.statista.com/statistics/443433/average-retail-price-for-canned-sockeye-salmon-in-canada/) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/5 "2020-08-21T02:09:46Z")
Is the frozen salmon possibly farm-raised and the canned salmon wild caught? Wild caught’s a lot more expensive, but IME has better flavor. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/6 "2020-08-21T02:15:30Z")
The canned stuff is claimed to be wild but the frozen stuff often is too. Although that could be a factor and makes sense, I don’t think it is the main one. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/7 "2020-08-21T03:08:18Z")
I would guess it is supply and demand. The supply chains are being mucked around but also I think there also an aspect of people stockpiling canned salmon in some reassuring abundance because it is shelf stable protein and doesn’t require cooking. My observations from the midwestern heartland, about as far away from the source of salmon as you can get in the northern hemisphere. A month ago I looked at a can of salmon in the store, noted the price, which was 50% more than the last price I paid for it and I said “nah, for that price I’ll just get 4 cans of tuna”. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/8 "2020-08-21T13:21:40Z")
I don’t have a big freezer and can only stock up so much on those things, but canned goods can go anywhere even if it’s a bit unsightly to have them out on the counter or wherever. I wonder if that’s part of it. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/9 "2020-08-21T13:43:21Z")
$3.19 here for a 14.75 ounce can of Alaskan salmon. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/10 "2020-08-21T14:32:05Z")
And then there’s tilapia. I love tilapia, but it is so cheap that I wonder if the pricing was some sort of mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/11 "2020-08-22T02:59:47Z")
The Sockeye stuff is pricier, but It’s what I’ve always bought - so comparing the same stuff. I quoted the Costco price. In “Econo-Foods”, it is actually more expensive by 10-50 percent (for sockeye). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/12 "2020-08-22T04:26:13Z")
Wild caught is more expensive fresh, and it’s usually not wild caught anyway. If frozen for storage or canned it’s going to be inexpensive. The quality farmed fish is not getting canned or frozen for storage. I haven’t kept track of salmon prices but if the canned price is up then the fresh price should have risen a while ago. The long shelf life of canned fish can put it a year or more behind the fresh market. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/13 "2020-08-22T14:40:29Z")
That’s what I don’t get. Frozen fish is much cheaper than canned, at least for salmon in my part of Canada. But fresh salmon (not hard to find in Canada) is cheaper than canned, too. A can of sockeye used to be $3, couple of years ago. Now it’s $5.39 or above $6 for 213g. One company started making 112g cana for $4.29 at the “Econo-Foods” store. They’re probably pricier elsewhere. I don’t eat much canned salmon. Maybe it’s a niche due to convenience or camping. I’m not affected or upset, but I don’t understand it either. Pandemic pricing? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/14 "2020-08-22T14:52:00Z")
You may be seeing the after affects of a [price climb that started almost 2 years ago.](https://www.statista.com/statistics/443433/average-retail-price-for-canned-sockeye-salmon-in-canada/) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/15 "2020-08-22T15:01:56Z")
‘Gross-out Alert’ I buy salmon flavored catfood for my cats. The can says it’s ‘really’ salmon. I wondered aloud whether it was Salmon cannery run-off that made it ‘really’ salmon. Well, I opened the can and it looked and smelled like real fish fillets. Kinda mashed up, but you could tell it was at one time a swimming fish. I almost tasted it. Almost. I have snooty, picky eaters, for cats. They would not eat the salmon catfood. No matter, Betsy the beagle was happy to accommodate. She’ll eat anything. Ounce for ounce that catfood was probably twice as expensive at People salmon. Next time it’s people salmon, if the cats don’t like it, I’ll eat it. Speaking of canned people mackerel, the cats got a can of it for Christmas. They loved it. I would not eat that. It looked gross. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/16 "2020-08-22T16:14:57Z")
> **[Scottish salmon farming industry pretty well refuses to admit there is a problem](https://responsibleaquaculture.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/scottish-salmon-farming-industry-pretty-well-refuses-to-admit-there-is-a-problem/)** > > Published on Sunday 23 October 2011 20:00 Lifestyle.Scotsman.com WHEN the Norwegian salmon farming industry starts spending £22 million on sea lice research, you can reckon the industry has more of… There seems to be a problem with sea lice in the salmon and trout industry. > [@](#): > > WHEN the Norwegian salmon farming industry starts spending £22 million on sea lice research, you can reckon the industry has more of a problem on its hands than anyone realised > > The lice not only eat caged salmon but, far worse, eat endangered wild salmon and sea trout as they swim past the fish farm cages into their home rivers on the west of Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/17 "2020-08-22T16:21:43Z")
This has been an ongoing issue with salmon farming. Ignored initially because it was only affecting the farms it has turned out to be another problem facing salmon and other fish populations. I think it was mainly a north Atlantic problem initially but they started farming Atlantic salmon in the Bering Sea region and either created the problem there or transported it. However, this isn’t necessarily the cause of recent price increases. I think the prices of canned fish in North America are not so closely tied with the Norwegian salmon industry. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canned-salmon-so-expensive-now/918606/18 "2020-08-23T02:30:08Z")
I spotted $3.79 for a can for a familiar brand I can’t recall at the moment and $3.19/can for store brand just now.