A clear account of what's happening to food costs, and the evidence behind it.
Short subscription reports for the buyer on the other side of a supplier's price claim: what changed, what might explain it, and what the public record can and cannot show. Every figure traces to a retained, timestamped source. Nothing here is a supplier's cost, and nothing here is advice.
Lobster Monitor · the board
Baseline issue · latest month per series| Measure | Latest | Year earlier | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer price index, lobstersNot seasonally adjusted · Dec 1991 = 100 | 191.9Aug 2026 | 201.7Aug 2025 | −4.9% | BLS WPU02230503 |
| Producer price index, unprocessed and prepared seafoodNot seasonally adjusted | 491.0Aug 2026 | 440.2Aug 2025 | +11.5% | BLS WPU0223 |
| Consumer price index, food away from homeU.S. city average · not seasonally adjusted | 397.9Aug 2026 | 384.9Aug 2025 | +3.4% | BLS CUUR0000SEFV |
| Live lobster imports through Portland, Maine, unit value$ per lb · Homarus spp. · HTS 0306320010 | $8.41Jul 2026 | $8.30Jul 2025 | +1.3% | NOAA FOSS |
| Live lobster imports through Portland, Maine, volumekilograms | 805,900Jul 2026 | 1,848,515Jul 2025 | −56.4% | NOAA FOSS |
| Maine ex-vessel price, September$ per lb · value ÷ pounds landed · latest year preliminary | $6.15Sept 2025 | $6.28Sept 2024 | −2.1% | Maine DMR |
| Consumer reference: one live hard-shell 1¼ lb lobster, counter or pickupTwo Maine sellers, observed 11 and 19 Sept 2026 · published by letter | $18.90–19.50Sept 2026 | —series begins | 0.0% | Field Assembly record |
Lobster-specific prices entering September 2026 are flat to slightly below a year ago. Seafood as a whole is not. A supplier citing seafood inflation is citing a real number; it is not a lobster number.
Year over year means the same month a year earlier. Live prices are never converted to meat prices. Index series are indexes, not prices.
Six titles, one method
Each title follows three to five dependable public sources and five to seven measures, chosen because a buyer of that product asks about them. Multiple perspectives from one institution's separate reports are preferred to manufactured source diversity. A measure is added only when it answers a reader's question.
| Title | Written for | Core public sources | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Lobster Monitor | Caterers, event planners, seafood buyers | Maine DMR landings · NOAA FOSS trade · BLS PPI and CPI · USDA ERS outlook · Field Assembly retail record | Baseline issue in preparationIssue 1 after the September PPI release, October 2026 |
| 02 | Beef Monitor | Independent restaurants, caterers, small food buyers | USDA AMS Market News · USDA ERS livestock outlook · BLS PPI and CPI | Sources assessedSecond title planned |
| 03 | Pork Monitor | Restaurants, barbecue businesses, caterers | USDA AMS Market News · USDA ERS · BLS PPI | Assessment pendingPublic-source feasibility not yet reviewed |
| 04 | Chicken Monitor | Restaurants, caterers, food-service businesses | USDA AMS Market News · USDA ERS · BLS PPI | Assessment pendingPublic-source feasibility not yet reviewed |
| 05 | Egg & Butter Brief | Bakeries, pastry shops, breakfast businesses | USDA AMS egg and dairy reports · USDA ERS · BLS PPI and CPI | Sources assessedNext title after Lobster Monitor |
| 06 | Coffee Current | Independent cafés, small roasters, hospitality buyers | ICO composite indicator · USDA FAS coffee reports · BLS PPI and CPI | Sources assessedPlanned |
Status is stated as it stands. A title is listed when its sources have been examined, not when it is sold. Core sources are the working set and may change; each issue names the exact releases it used.
What an issue contains
Every issue of every title has the same six parts, in the same order. The value is in connecting the evidence for one buyer, not in restating a government table. Excerpts below are from the Lobster Monitor baseline issue.
A short assessment of market conditions
What the evidence says, in a few paragraphs, with the seasonal shape named so that a quote from one month is not compared to a claim from another.
The 2026 winter peak ran higher than 2025's, then fell back to parity by August. A quote priced in March and an adjustment claimed in September compare two seasons, not two years.
Five to seven measures against the right comparison
Latest period, same period a year earlier, and the change, with the series identifier so a reader can pull the source themselves. The board above is this section.
How price, production, inventory, and trade relate
The chain from dock to counter, and what moves each link.
Maine's most recent September dock price is $6.15 a pound. Live Canadian imports entered Portland at $8.41 in July. A single 1¼ lb hard shell at the counter works out to about $15 a pound. The spread is handling, grading, mortality, and margin. It is wide, and it is where most of a buyer's price lives.
Conflicting signals, lags, gaps, and limits to the comparison
Stated, not buried. Which figures are preliminary, which months get revised, which comparisons mix dates, and where a series is thin.
The dock price is a year old. Maine publishes monthly landings once a year, in February. Any claim about 2026 dock prices in Maine rests on private data.
Something useful to put to a supplier
Which product: live, meat, or tail; what size and shell. Which dates: what the quote priced from, and what the adjustment references. Which evidence: what published series or invoice supports the number.
Sources, dates, methods, corrections
Every release used, its retrieval time and file hash, the formulas, and any correction to an earlier issue, left visible.
Public sources, retained evidence, dated claims
These publications extend Field Assembly's standing practice: first-party sources, quoted exactly and dated; every capture retained and externally timestamped; evidence kept apart from judgment; corrections made on the record.
Sources
Free government statistics, official market reports, trade-body publications, and a small set of public price observations. No paid data subscriptions. No product listings maintained by the hundred. Like is compared with like: grade, cut, size, unit, geography, and purchasing channel.
Evidence
Each issue ships with a preserved package: the source versions used, publication and retrieval dates, the calculations, and the issue as delivered. Files are hashed into an append-only chain anchored by RFC 3161 timestamp tokens and OpenTimestamps proofs.
Limits
A timestamp shows a captured record existed by a date. It does not show a source's figure was correct or that a quoted price was available to every buyer. Market evidence is not a supplier's cost, and no issue states whether a contractual adjustment is permitted.