What does the EU Fisheries Market Report 2024 reveal?

What does the EU Fisheries Market Report 2024 reveal?

The European Commission has just published the EU Fisheries Market Report 2024 , which focuses on the performance of the fisheries and aquaculture market in the period 2022-2023.

The EC considers three key findings:

1. Europeans eat less fresh seafood at home due to rising prices.

According to the report, there was a decline in fresh fish consumption at home in 2023 due to rising prices. Between 2019 and 2022, EU consumers have consumed more fresh seafood at home, mainly due to the impact of COVID-19 on the restaurant and hospitality sector. That positive trend has now ended and, in 2023, domestic consumption of fresh fish had plummeted to its lowest level.

The downward trend in household consumption can largely be attributed, according to the report, to the current economic and geopolitical climate, which has led to an increase in inflation, significantly affecting consumer purchasing power in retail trade.

Due to rising prices, household spending on fresh fishery and aquaculture products increased by 6% in 2022, continuing the upward trend started in 2018.

Per capita spending on fishery and aquaculture products in EU households in 2023 compared to 2022 was higher in all countries, as inflationary pressures remained high in 2023, leading to further increases in fish prices.

Portugal, the largest per capita consumer of fishery and aquaculture products in the EU, saw its per capita spending reach €456 in 2023, more than three times the EU average of €138.

2. Deterioration in the EU trade balance

The European Union experienced a decrease in the total value and volume of seafood trade in 2023 compared to 2022.

-The total value of EU seafood trade decreased by 2% and the volume decreased by 4%.

-The EU imported more seafood from other countries than it exported. In 2023, the EU imported seafood worth around €30 billion, down 6% compared to 2022.

-The EU also imported less seafood in terms of volume, falling to 5.9 million tonnes, which is below pre-pandemic levels.

-EU seafood exports, i.e. sales of seafood to countries outside the EU, decreased in both value and volume.

These figures reflect the broader context of the economic and geopolitical climate of recent years, including the EU inflation rate.

3. Apparent consumption: aquaculture products gain ground

Apparent consumption (sum of catches, aquaculture production and imports minus exports) in 2022 saw an increase in aquaculture products.

In 2022, consumption of about 6.82 kilograms of farmed seafood per person was recorded, the highest in the last decade. During the same period, consumption of wild products was 16.70 kilograms per person, the lowest in the last decade.

In addition, apparent consumption of fishery and aquaculture products was 1% lower than in 2021. The apparent consumption (the sum of catches, aquaculture production, and seafood imports minus seafood exports) of the 15 products or product species shows that tuna and salmon were the first and second most consumed species, respectively.

Shrimp occupied the third position in 2022, followed by Alaska pollock, cod, and mussels. The other species or products considered for this analysis are: hake, herring, squid, surimi, sardine, mackerel, trout, scallop, and saithe.

The European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA) is a service of the European Commission that provides market intelligence to support the development of the EU fisheries and aquaculture sector.

EUMOFA reports and data provide essential information on the trends, challenges and opportunities shaping the sector, and are used by policy makers, industry stakeholders and other interested parties to make informed decisions.

The EU Fisheries Market is a comprehensive analysis of the EU fisheries and aquaculture sector that has been published every year since 2014.