Skip to content
LiveCriée
FR

Buyer's guides

The seafood price list (mercuriale):definition, reading and comparison

The price list (mercuriale) is a fish merchant's list of the day's prices. How to read it line by line and set those of several suppliers side by side.

Updated 8 min readLiveCriée editorial team

Today's price listIllustrative example
Contents
  1. What is a seafood price list for?
  2. How to read a price list line?
  3. Size grades: what the standards say
  4. How to compare the price lists of several fish merchants?
  5. What are the common pitfalls?
  6. Frequently asked questions

The price list (mercuriale) is the list of prices that a fish merchant (mareyeur) or a wholesaler sends to its professional buyers for the day: for each product, the species, the presentation, the size grade, the origin, the fishing method, the price per kilo and the packing. In seafood, it changes every day, because the catch landed changes every day.

The word has other meanings. Historically, the mercuriale is the official record of current prices of foodstuffs sold on a public market. In institutional catering and public procurement, it also refers to a reference price list negotiated with a supplier for a given period. This guide is about the meaning known to fishmongers, chefs and importers: the list of the day.

What is a seafood price list for?

It answers three questions the buyer asks every morning:

  • What has arrived? The price list reflects the sales at the fish auction (criée) and the arrivals of the previous day or the night. A species missing one day can come back the next.
  • At what price? The price is set for the day, rarely longer. It follows the auction, the weather and demand.
  • Until when? A seafood price list is generally valid for the same day, and often carries the mention "sous réserve d'arrivage" (subject to landings). An order placed late may no longer find the product.

It comes in very varied forms: PDF, spreadsheet, WhatsApp message, photo of a board, phone call, sometimes still fax. Each house has its own layout, abbreviations and product names. That is what makes reading it longer than it looks.

How to read a price list line?

Take a typical line (illustrative example):

BARSpecies LIGNEFishing method 1/2 KGSize grade PTE BRETAGNEOrigin VIDÉPresentation 26,00 €Price colis 5 kgPacking

It contains almost everything you need to know, in abbreviated form. Here is how to break it down.

FieldWhat to readExamplesThe trap
SpeciesThe commercial designation, sometimes the local namesea bass (bar, loup); monkfish (baudroie, lotte); pollack (lieu jaune)The same fish has several names depending on the coast: "loup" in the Mediterranean, "bar" on the Atlantic
PresentationThe state of the product deliveredwhole, gutted, headless, tail, fillet with or without skin, portion (pavé)A fillet price and a whole-fish price cannot be compared: you have to go through the yield
Size gradeThe unit weight or the number of pieces per kilo1/2 kg (1 to 2 kg), 500/800 g, langoustine 20/30"+1 kg" can cover fish of 1 kg as well as 3 kg
OriginThe catch area or the port of landingBrittany, North-East Atlantic, tip of BrittanyThe commercial origin (a port) is not the regulatory catch area
Fishing methodThe gear or the type of vesselline, trawl, net, pot, inshore, offshore"Inshore" (côtier) or "small boat" (petit bateau) tells the length of the fishing trip, not the gear
QualityFreshness or an in-house sortExtra, A, B (freshness categories used at auction, sometimes repeated on price lists); "1er choix" (first choice)In-house categories are not standardised from one house to another
PriceThe unit price, almost always per kilo and excluding tax€26.00/kg excl. VAT (HT)Price "ex-works" (départ, transport extra) or "delivered" (rendu): the price list does not always say
PackingThe minimum packing unit5 kg parcel, polystyrene box, by the pieceA 5 kg parcel for a 2 kg need changes the real cost
ValidityThe period and the conditions"ce jour" (today), "sous réserve d'arrivage" (subject to landings), free delivery from a given amountThe free delivery threshold (franco de port) can make a higher price cheaper in the end

For the end consumer, European regulations require several of these items on the label: commercial designation and scientific name, production method, catch area, fishing gear category, the mention "defrosted" where applicable (Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013, Article 35). The fishmonger who resells must therefore find them in what their supplier sends.

Size grades: what the standards say

Fish merchants most often write their size grades as weight ranges ("500/800", "1/2 kg") or as a number of pieces per kilo. Behind this, there is a European grid of size categories, set by Regulation (EC) No 2406/96 (Annex II), still in force. Size grade 1 is always the largest.

SpeciesSize grade 1Size grade 2Size grade 3Size grade 4Size grade 5
Dover sole (kg per fish)0.5 and over0.33 to 0.50.25 to 0.33 (1)0.20 to 0.250.12 to 0.20
Hake (kg per fish)2.5 and over1.2 to 2.50.6 to 1.20.28 to 0.60.2 to 0.28
Headless monkfish (kg)4 and over2 to 41 to 20.5 to 10.2 to 0.5
Megrim (kg per fish)0.45 and over0.25 to 0.450.20 to 0.250.11 to 0.20
Whole langoustine (pieces per kilo)20 and under21 to 3031 to 40more than 40

Source: Regulation (EC) No 2406/96, Annex II, Dover sole scale applicable since 1 January 1998, still in force. The lower bound is included, the upper bound excluded. (1) The text gives 0.25 to 0.35 kg for Dover sole category 3, which overlaps category 2; we use 0.33.

Two consequences for the buyer. First, "size grade 2" at one fish merchant and "1/2 kg" at another do not necessarily refer to the same fish. Second, size grade weighs on the price per kilo, often non-linearly: large fish cost more per kilo, but give a better fillet yield. The food cost guide does the calculation.

How to compare the price lists of several fish merchants?

This is where the time goes. Here are three typical lines received on the same morning for the same need, line-caught sea bass of about 1.5 kg. Illustrative example: wording and prices invented.

What is writtenWhat has to be brought back to a common basis
Fish merchant ABar lig. 1-2 Bret. 24,90Gutted or whole? Ex-works or delivered price?
Fish merchant BBAR DE LIGNE 1/2 KG PTE BRETAGNE 26,00 € franco 30 kgDelivered above an order of 30 kg
Fish merchant CLoup ligne +1 kg 23,50 € départ"+1 kg": the lot may contain 3 kg fish; transport to be added

None of this is wrong: each line is accurate, written in the house's own language. But to compare, everything has to be rewritten in a common grid:

  1. Same designation

    Bring "loup", "bar", "bar lig." back to a single species.

  2. Same presentation

    Whole with whole, gutted with gutted. Failing that, convert using the yield.

  3. Same size grade

    Set against each other ranges that really overlap, not "+1 kg" against "1/2 kg".

  4. Same price basis

    Add transport to ex-works prices, take account of the free delivery threshold and the minimum packing.

  5. Same moment

    A 6 am price list and a 9 am one do not necessarily reflect the same auction.

  6. Same history

    A low price on one day says nothing. Setting it against the price of the week or the month at the same supplier says a lot.

With three fish merchants and twenty items, the exercise already takes time. With eight suppliers, it becomes the first job of the morning, even though all the information was already written down.

What are the common pitfalls?

  • Comparing gross per-kilo prices without looking at the presentation or the yield.
  • Forgetting transport when one supplier sells ex-works and the other delivered.
  • Trusting the product name: "dos" (loin), "pavé" (portion), "filet" (fillet) have no common definition from one house to another.
  • Reading "ligne" (line) as a label. It is a fishing method announced by the seller; labels (MSC, Label Rouge) are another matter, covered in a dedicated guide.
  • Neglecting validity. A price seen at 7 am is not guaranteed at 10 am, especially on species that are scarce that day.
  • Only looking at the day. Without history, it is impossible to know whether a price is high or low for the season. The seasonality calendar helps place the species.

Frequently asked questions

What is a mercuriale in food service?

It is the list of prices offered by a supplier. In seafood, it is daily and sent by the fish merchant or the wholesaler; in institutional catering, it can refer to a price list negotiated for several weeks.

Who sends the price list, and when?

The fish merchant, the wholesaler or the wholesale fishmonger, generally early in the morning, sometimes the evening before. The channel and the time vary from one house to another: email, WhatsApp, telephone.

Is the price on a price list negotiable?

It serves as a basis. Volume, regularity of orders and delivery conditions can move it. Knowing the price history makes the discussion more factual.

What does "1/2" or "20/30" mean on a price list?

"1/2" generally means fish of 1 to 2 kg each. "20/30" is a number of pieces per kilo, common for langoustine or prawns: between 20 and 30 pieces in a kilo.

Why does the same fish not have the same price at two fish merchants?

Because it is almost never exactly the same: size grade, presentation, fishing method, freshness, transport included or not. Once everything is brought back to the same basis, the real gaps are often smaller than they look.

How many price lists should you compare?

Enough to have a choice on your key species, no more than you can read each morning. Most buyers work with several suppliers for security of supply.

Sources

Read next