The United Kingdom’s seafood imports and exports fell sharply in the first quarter of this year as a result of market lockdowns, greatly reduced freight transport availability, and scaled back industry workforces – all brought by the COVID-19 pandemic situation – trade body Seafish reported as part of new market insight and analysis published recently.
According to the analysis, the country’s seafood trade for the first three months of 2020 totaled 273,00 metric tons (MT), achieving a value of GBP 1.18 billion (USD 1.5 billion, EUR 1.3 billion), which represented year-on-year decreases of 9.9 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively. At the same time, the average price of imported and exported seafood products slipped by 1.5 percent to GBP 4.32 (USD 5.61, EUR 4.77) per kilogram.
Broken down, the imported volume dropped 8.9 percent to 164,000 MT, and imported value dropped 7.4 percent to GBP 797 million (USD 1 billion, EUR 880.1 million); while seafood exports were hardest hit – falling 11.3 percent in volume and 18.2 percent in value to 109,000 MT and GBP 385 million (USD 499.9 million, EUR 425.1 million).
Seafish said the United Kingdom had stockpiles of frozen raw material from imported sources that helped ease some of the product flows, but that those species which are traded chilled and flown into the country were most affected. It added that “the overnight loss” of major export routes put an immediate stop on trade, particularly as much of this is chilled product with no immediate alternative export routes available.
While the transportation of goods was exempt from border closures, Seafish explained that three key trading issues were identified by seafood businesses:
- Order cancellation, particularly by countries in lockdown, due to wholesalers and restaurants being closed.
- Lack of ship and container availability, with many being delayed, redirected, or quarantined at borders around the world. This also led to very expensive shipping costs.
- Availability of workers in affected countries.
During the quarter, the countries that imported the largest value of seafood into the U.K. market were Sweden, Iceland, and China, with the main species continuing to be salmon, valued at GBP 185 million (USD 240.1 million, EUR 204.3 million); cod, valued at GBP 124.3 million (USD 161.3 million, EUR 137.2 million); and tuna, valued at GBP 91.3 million (USD 118.5 million, EUR 100.8 million).
France, the United States, and Ireland provided the main overseas destinations for U.K. seafood. Salmon, mackerel, and nephrops were the top exported species, valued at GBP 169 million (USD 219.3 million, EUR 186.6 million), GBP 32.5 million (USD 42.2 million, EUR 35.9 million), and GBP 17.1 million (USD 22.2 million, EUR 18.9 million), respectively.
The analysis also highlighted that the United Kingdom’s seafood trade with the E.U. in the quarter decreased by 9.2 percent in volume to 149,000 MT, and by 12.8 percent in value to GBP 540 million (USD 700.5 million, EUR 596.1 million). At the same time, its seafood imports from the bloc fell by 10.3 percent in volume and 6.4 percent in value to 62,000 MT and GBP 284 million (USD 368.4 million, EUR 313.5 million).
Photo courtesy of Kelvin Atkins/Shutterstock
