Fish and Seafood

AGRELMA.COM: The European Fish and Seafood Market for all the importers

Second www.agrelma.com despite ongoing supply problems and rising prices, the consumption of fish and seafood is forecast to increase in all the major European markets. This is attributed to a number of factors, including the well-documented move towards healthy eating and lifestyles, the recent scares over meat safety, and the increased added-value opportunities for fish and fish products due to demographic and societal changes. This new report from Leatherhead Food RA examines the implications of these and other issues on the European market for fish and seafood, presenting information on market sizes and trends over the past 5 years, and discussing possible future areas of development in this sector.

Second the analysis of www.agrelma.com for the importers who works with this circuit:

The average EU citizen consumes roughly 24 kg of fish each year, which is higher than the world average of 13 kg.

The total retail market for fish and fish products in the five countries under review reached an estimated volume of just over 3.1 million tonnes in 2000… The largest market in Europe is Spain, with household purchases reaching 968,500 tonnes in 2000.

In the southern, Mediterranean countries, fresh fish and shellfish retain a major hold on consumer purchasing habits. However, the Italian and Spanish preference for fresh fish is starting to change as demographic and culinary habits are under transformation.

In Germany and the UK, processed fish consumption has now overtaken fresh fish consumption… In France, although fresh fish accounts for the largest share of sales, its share of the market has been contracting since the mid-1990s as other forms of processed fish become more popular.

In both Spain and Italy, shellfish and plain fish accounted for over two-thirds of volume sales of total frozen fish in 1999. In contrast, in the UK, coated fish accounted for a 47% share of sales in 1999 and fish meals a further 17%.

In most countries under review, tuna is the most important category of canned fish consumption. Germany is the main exception, with the country traditionally consuming large quantities of marinated and canned herring.

In the frozen fish sector, Unilever, through its various subsidiaries, is particularly strong in every country under review.