Four years on from the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, the U.K. seafood industry is still roughly GBP 1 billion (USD 1.3 billion, EUR 1.2 billion) behind where it was in 2019.
Prior to the U.K. officially leaving the European Union in early 2020, government officials promised seafood sector growth would continue to be supported. Despite the promises, elements of the industry are struggling, and some are calling on the government for additional help as challenges continue to undermine the segment.
“This is the big question on my mind: will there be a billion-pound bounce back in the U.K. seafood industry?” Seafish CEO Marcus Coleman said. “The reason I say that, is it has been tough. The last four years, the combined value of seafood imports and exports in and out of the U.K. has fallen by around GBP 1 billion (USD 1.3 billion, EUR 1.2 billion).”
Speaking during the Responsible Seafood Summit in St. Andrews, Scotland, Coleman said the country's seafood trade reached a peak of just under GBP 6.5 billion (USD 8.4 billion, EUR 7.8 billion) prior to Covid-19 and Brexit.
“Leading up to 2020, things were looking quite good. Consumer confidence was high; the economy was in growth,” Coleman said.
That growth has crumbled away in the years since. The Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent cost of living crisis, and Houthi militia attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea all combined to hamper growth.
“I wouldn’t put this at the door of any one of them, but together these had the effect of losing us GBP 1 billion in value,” Coleman said.
Brexit was a complicating factor that suddenly presented huge barriers to the U.K.’s seafood exports, which shows in the export numbers.
“There were lots of difficulties for exporting into the E.U., like additional paperwork and border checks,” Coleman said.
Shellfish exports to the E.U. were hit particularly hard, dropping by 152 million pounds – a 27 percent decline that the industry is still trying to recover from.
Seafood imports from the E.U. were also hugely impacted by Brexit and Covid-19. According to Coleman imports dropped by 32 percent from the bloc.
The U.K.’s market in China was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns as well.
Coleman said that the Houthi attacks also had a surprisingly heavy toll on the U.K.’s seafood imports, as roughly 25 percent of all seafood consumed in the U.K. is transported via the Red Sea.
“So again, another impact that we hadn’t necessarily seen coming: increased prices,” Coleman said.
Despite four years of headwinds, the story is not all grim, Coleman said. In the first half of 2024, seafood import and export values have shown a small amount of growth, and both export values and volumes are showing positive movement across all main species groups.
Seafood imports have also shown some gains in volume – but the data shows the U.K. has struggled to maintain the same level of trade it once had with the E.U.
“It seems that with the difficulties in importing from the E.U., we're starting to source material from elsewhere in the world,” Coleman said.
The main questions now facing the U.K seafood industry is whether the increases in exports and imports will continue, and if the industry will gain back the value it lost over the last four years.
“What is pleasing is that the industry is working as hard as ever on getting itself in the best possible position to take advantage of when the markets do clear, when the geopolitical risks subside,” Coleman said.
