Atlantic Lobster: export from Canada to ASEAN

Atlantic lobster is Canada's highest-profile seafood export and the format decision determines everything downstream. Live lobster is a logistics product: airfreighted, with mortality risk priced in and a supply chain that has to hold temperature and handling end to end. Frozen whole, frozen tails and processed meat are sea-freight products with entirely different economics.

Grading is by size band and by hard or soft shell, and hard shell is what travels. Soft-shell product carries lower meat yield and does not survive a long chain, which is why season matters commercially and not just biologically: the fishery runs in defined seasons by area, and what is available in hard shell shifts through the year.

For buyers new to the trade, the honest guidance is that live lobster is not a beginner's product on a long route. Frozen tails and processed meat give you the origin story and the eating quality without a mortality clock.

Specify size band, shell condition and format. Establishment and consignment requirements for the destination should be confirmed before a first shipment is planned.