The European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture (EUMOFA) in June released a new study analyzing market trends for octopus in the European Union.
Titled simply “Octopus in the E.U.,” the study analyses octopus production and market trends in the region with a special focus on three key markets: Italy, Spain, and Greece. EUMOFA, developed by the European Commission, is a market intelligence tool for the E.U. fisheries and aquaculture sector that supports business decisions and policy-making.
One of the strong points of the report is that prices are reported throughout the supply chain – from first sale to retail – with estimates of yields, costs, profit margins, and consumption taxes.
Octopus vulgaris is the main octopus in world commerce, but the report includes other species, either in the aggregate or, in the case of Italy, specified as “horned and musky octopuses.”
According to the report, global production of octopus increased from 2008 to 2017 by 12 percent, but E.U. production decreased by 40 percent. In 2017, E.U. catches reached 27,872 metric tons (MT) and accounted for 7 percent of world catches. The world’s largest producers – accounting for 76 percent of world production of octopus – are China, Morocco, Mexico, Mauritania, Japan, and the 28 countries of the E.U.
The main countries of origin for the E.U.’s imports in 2018 were Morocco and Mauritania, accounting for 66 percent of import value and 51 percent of import volume. Other origins were Mexico, Senegal, and Indonesia, which together accounted for 20 percent of the import value and 27 percent of import volume.
Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece were the main domestic producers and consumers of octopus in the E.U.. In 2018, Spain and Italy were the main importers from countries outside the E.U., mainly receiving frozen octopus from Morocco and Mauritania. Spain was the destination for 58 percent of the E.U.’s imports, and was also the E.U.'s main exporter – with the U.S. as the main destination.
In 2017, 89 percent of Italy’s octopus supply was imported. Consumption was estimated at 71,905 MT live weight equivalent (LWE).
The first-sale price of fresh octopus produced in Italy and sold in Milan in June 2019 was EUR 7.07 (USD 8.06) per kilogram, while the retail price was EUR 19.42 (USD 22.14) per kilogram. Thawed octopus from Morocco was imported at EUR 8.56 (USD 9.75) per kilogram, and retailed in Milan at double that price at EUR 17.99 (USD 20.50) per kilogram.
Octopus imports to Spain increased 71 percent in volume between 2012 and 2018. In 2018, cooked and chilled octopus, imported from Morocco at EUR 10.05 (USD 11.45) per kilogram, sold in Spanish supermarkets at EUR 30.00 (USD 34.20) per kilogram. Medium-sized octopus landed fresh in Spain, and sold frozen in Spanish supermarkets, had a first-sales price of EUR 6.30 (USD 7.18) per kilogram for fresh product and a retail price of EUR 13.50 (USD 15.39) per kilogram.
In 2017, Greek consumption of octopus (in all states of preservation) totaled 9,000 MT in LWE, of which 3,500 MT (almost 40 percent) was fresh and the remainder, 5,400 MT, was frozen. The domestic catch has increased, resulting in more fresh and less frozen sales.
In June 2019, fresh octopus produced in Greece was sold at EUR 7.50 (USD 8.55 per kilogram at first-sale, and retailed at EUR 15.66 (USD 17.86) per kilogram.
Photo by Chris Loew/SeafoodSource
