“The EU Fish Market” study published by EUMOFA (European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products) shows that fisheries and aquaculture products make up less than 1% of all goods and services purchased by EU households, a far smaller percentage than the share of meat, which is 3.9%.
However, between 2020 and 2021, both the amount spent on meat and fisheries and aquaculture products climbed by 10%. This indicates that while both helped to raise the overall portion of food expenditures, other food items emerged as the primary catalyst, with their proportion of total expenditure rising by 14% between 2020 and 2021.
Ireland and Cyprus had the biggest improvements when viewed at the national level. Due to a rise in the share of consumption of fisheries and aquaculture products across all preservation categories in total goods and services, the share of these products climbed by 38% in Ireland and by 58% in Cyprus.
Hungary’s proportion of spending on fisheries and aquaculture products increased by 26% overall because of a 71% growth in the frozen fish category. Portugal, which spends the most per person in the EU on fisheries and aquaculture goods, witnessed a 9% increase in its share, mostly because of a 27% increase in fresh and chilled seafood purchases.
In terms of processed goods, a more thorough analysis conducted at the EU level reveals that overall foodservice sales fell precipitously between 2019 and 2020, with a reported 35% loss of about 200.000 tons, or from little over 563.000 tons to approximately 367.000 tons. The largest countries also had the longest restaurant closure times, which corresponded to the highest declines59. It primarily impacted shelf-stable products60, which make up most processed fish and seafood items, according to the EUMOFA report.
Germany is the biggest consumer of fish and seafood products
Within the European Union, almost 80% of processed fish and seafood consumed through foodservice is consumed in five countries: Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and Sweden. Nearly half of the total is accounted for by Germany alone.
The countries with the worst declines between 2019 and 2020—equal to or greater than 40%—were France (-51%), Belgium and Spain (-48% each), the Netherlands (-42%), Portugal, and Luxembourg (-40% each). Sales significantly increased in each of these instances in 2021. Only three of the 27 countries—Estonia, Slovenia, and Cyprus—showed no change in sales in 2021 compared to 2020, when they had decreased by 13%, 25%, and 29%, respectively.
Sales were significantly lower in two of the EU’s 27 members, Ireland, and Croatia: from 2019 to 2020, they saw declines of 19% and 14%, respectively, and from 2020 to 2021, they saw dips of 17% apiece. In every other EU member state, 2021 was a year of recovery, the EUMOFA study reveals. In the foodservice industry, shelf-stable products are most frequently used, followed by frozen and refrigerated goods. However, the proportion of processed fisheries and aquaculture products that are shelf-stable varies greatly between nations.
In Bulgaria, where frozen goods are preferred, it was 5% in 2021, whereas in Spain, it was 81%. Germany is the country with the biggest consumption of shelf-stable items through the foodservice industry; in 2021, 114.000 tons, or half of the EU total, were consumed there. Spain came in second with around 74.000 tons. When it comes to frozen product consumption, these two nations lead the pack: Germany consumes about 64.000 tons, while Spain consumes slightly more than 12.000 tons.
The scenario is more varied when it comes to chilled products: Germany (about 7.600 tons in 2021), France (nearly 7.000 tons), and Spain (almost 6.000 tons) account for 15%, 14%, and 11% of the total, respectively. Sweden comes in second with about 3.600 tons (or 7% of the total) reported in 2021. Frozen goods contributed EUR9.08bn to the EU deficit in 2021 or 47% of the overall deficit.
The category of prepared-preserved items had a deficit of EUR2.12bn, or 11% of the total deficit, followed by fresh products, with a deficit of EUR7.26bn, or 38% of the total. The fresh and frozen food categories saw the largest increase in the trade deficit when compared to 2020.
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