Undercurrent News is proud to unveil its new US seafood wholesale pricing platform, which launches with benchmark assessments for farmed shrimp and Argentine reds, frozen lobster tails and meat and scallops, as well as wild and farmed whitefish. 

Every Wednesday, at noon Eastern Standard Time, UCN will publish our wholesale price assessments for that week on the platform, along with market wrap-ups for each species group. 

Just under 300 proprietary benchmark prices have gone live, so click the links below to see for yourself. The latest assessments are for week 50; historical data is also available.

• UCN shrimp benchmarks - Asian/Latin American vannamei, Asian black tiger, Argentine reds 
• UCN lobster benchmarks - frozen warmwater/coldwater tails, meat 
• UCN groundfish benchmarks - various specs of cod, haddock, pollock, sole, surimi 
• UCN farmed whitefish benchmarks - frozen/fresh tilapia, frozen catfish and pangasius 
• UCN scallop benchmarks - domestic, imports from Canada, China, Japan 

Please feel free to give us feedback on the platform at [email protected]; we produced it based on industry interest and want to develop it in line with your needs. 

In the next few weeks and months, UCN will announce more details on our plans for US wholesale price assessments covering farmed and wild salmon, live lobster and snow crab.

UCN will keep the platform and related content on the main site open to all registered users until Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, after which it will be accessible only to Pro subscribers. Please contact us at [email protected] if you'd like a walk-through of the platform or more information on subscribing in the future. 

The market wrap-ups will also feature on UCN's global news and data site, including embedded pricing data from our US wholesale platform and global pricing and trade portals.

On Mondays, UCN will publish a market pulse for each species group on the platform and our main site, which seeks to preview the market mood for the week ahead. 

In addition, UCN's price reporting agency (PRA) team will examine species with major market shifts that week in more depth. 

Below are examples of how the embedded prices will look in the market wrap-ups and pulses. 

Initially, the US wholesale benchmarks are available in table format on the platform but as charts on our global prices portal. The next step will be to allow users to toggle between tables and charts on the US wholesale platform, which is already under development. The example of the US wholesale data in chart format can be seen below, or on the global portal. 

"We see an opportunity to provide the global seafood sector with a fresh take on US wholesale prices, married with our global data offering and delivered through a flexible technology platform," said Tom Seaman, CEO and co-founder of UCN. "We will listen to customer feedback and develop the product in line with market needs."

"I’m incredibly proud to be a small part of building this resource from the ground up, with the industry’s feedback and needs at the heart of our process," said Lorin Castiglione, head of price reporting for Americas with UCN. 

"Our goal is to provide the seafood sector with a reliable, transparent, and insightful resource to navigate the complexities of the US wholesale market, seamlessly integrating our existing news and data to deliver a comprehensive view of the entire supply chain. This is not just about launching a product—it’s about giving the industry another strong option for accurate pricing and market intelligence, delivered in a way that reflects our commitment to collaboration and innovation," said Castiglione. 

"Our goal in building the PRA for the seafood industry is to conveniently and efficiently provide crucial market data and intelligence, providing customers with a robust platform to make more informed strategic decisions," said Gary Morrison, head of growth and strategy for UCN. 

"The team aims to bring true transparency to the seafood trade with the first holistic view of pricing throughout the supply chain. It is an honor to be part of the team and build upon an already robust platform to provide our key stakeholders and customers with innovative solutions to their needs," he said. 

The US wholesale platform is part of UCN's drive to build the first global seafood PRA and data business, leveraging its multi-lingual team of journalists and price reporters in Canada, China, Japan, Russia, Spain, the UK and the US. 

With the addition of the US wholesale prices, UCN's global data platform now has over 3,000 data points covering key seafood commodities globally. UCN has also built a global trade tracking tool, which can be seen here.