A new report from the Australian government has shown that the country’s fisheries and aquaculture production reached AUD 3.06 billion (USD 2.17 billion, EUR 1.91 billion) in 2016-2017.
A separate report by Neilson Australia shows Australian shoppers spent 3.6 percent more on seafood in 2018, with 94 percent of Australian households buying seafood in the past year.
The value of Australia’s commercial fishery and aquaculture production was 9 percent higher in 2016–2017 than in 2006–2007, after accounting for the effects on inflation, according to the latest edition of the Australian Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistics report, created by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES).
Australia’s seafood industry appears to be in a transitional phase, with aquaculture and high-value wild-catch fisheries products making up an increasing amount of the country’s total production value. Aquaculture production value increased by 4 percent in 2016-2017 to AUD 1.35 billion (USD 954.9 million, EUR 843.1 million), led by a 5 percent increase in the value of farmed salmonids, which reached AUD 756 million (USD 534.7 million, EUR 472.1 million).
Following salmonids, rock lobster, at AUD 673 million (USD 475.6 million, EUR 420.1 million), represented the second-highest grossing Australian seafood product in 2016-2017. Following rock lobster in value, Australian prawns brought in AUD 396 million (USD 280 million, EUR 247.2 million), abalone collected AUD 177 million (USD 125.1 million, EUR 110.5 million), and oysters took in AUD 112 million (USD 79.1 million, EUR 6.9 million).
The report found the value of Australia’s seafood exports nearly halved in real terms between 2001-2002 and 2017–2018, hitting AUD 1.55 billion (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 967.5 million). The report cited lower export prices and volumes of tuna, abalone, prawns, and pearls as the two primary drivers of the decline in export values.
Vietnam was Australia’s top export market in value terms in 2016–17, reaching AUD 575 million (USD 406.3 million, EUR 358.8 million). Hong Kong, at AUD 232 million (USD 163.9 million, EUR 144.8 million) was second, Japan was third at AUD 223 million (USD 157.5 million, EUR 139.2 million), and China was fourth at AUD 171 million (USD 120.8 million, EUR 106.7 million), followed by the United States in fifth position at AUD 53 million (USD 37.4 million, EUR 33.1 million). These top five markets together accounted for 87 percent of the total export value of Australian seafood.
Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Richard Colbeck said the growth belied a strong and growing appetite for seafood from Australia.
“Australia produces some of the highest-quality seafood in the world, and it’s no wonder that our fishery and aquaculture industries continue to grow,” Colbeck said.
The report also found Australia’s overall consumption of seafood increased at an average annual rate of 0.8 percent between 2006-2007 and 2016–2017, increasing 9 percent overall in this period. However, the country’s per person consumption of seafood declined over the same period, from 15 kilograms per person on an edible equivalent basis in 2006–2007 to 13.9 kilograms per person in 2016–2017, according to the report. This was due to faster population growth, the report said.
Australia has also begun importing more seafood. Between 2001-2002 and 2017-2018, Australia’s imports have increased 23 percent by value in real terms, reaching AUD 2.1 billion (USD 1.5 billion, EUR 1.3 billion). The share of imports in Australian seafood consumption rising from 59 percent to 66 percent over the past 10 years. Imports counted for 226,386 metric tons of Australia’s total consumption of 341,092 metric tons of seafood in 2016-2017.
The Nielson report revealed that total annual dollar sales for the fish and seafood category grew by 3.6 percent in Australia in 2018, with the average Australian household spending AUD 167 (USD 118, EUR 104) on seafood annually. The increase was driven by higher prices, the report found, as Australians are for the most part eating the same amount of seafood as they have in recent years.
However, the report found that Australians are shifting their buying from fresh to frozen seafood, with the frozen sector growing by 5.3 percent in dollar sales in 3.3 percent in volume sales. Nielson said that was due to generally lower prices and greater variety of choice for frozen seafood.
“The fish and seafood category is well-positioned to be a premium protein offer for consumers,” the Nielson report said. “Fresh fish accounted for half of all dollar sales for the category in the past year, while frozen and ambient each made up a quarter. The picture differs in volume terms, with each segment roughly represented by a third of sales. This highlights how important fresh seafood is when it comes to driving up the value of the category overall, although most shoppers buy across all three segments.”
Atlantic salmon, barramundi, and prawns were the three biggest contributors to value growth within fresh fish and seafood, the report found.
Graphic courtesy of Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences
