Ex-vessel prices of European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in the key markets of Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have increased by an average 50 percent over the past three years, new data from the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA) has found.
In Denmark, the average first-sales price for January through October 2018 of EUR 2.55 (USD 2.92) per kilogram was 43 percent higher than in the corresponding period of 2017, and 54 percent more than in 2016. EUMOFA confirmed that the country’s three-year price high of EUR 2.88 (USD 3.30) per kilogram was recorded in July 2018 when 1,688 metric tons (MT) was landed and sold, while the lowest was recorded in September 2016 when 3,097 MT was sold at EUR 1.44 (USD 1.65) per kg.
In the Netherlands, the average first-sales price of plaice for the first 10 months of 2018 was EUR 2.52 (USD 2.89) per kg, up 33 percent and 50 percent over 2017 and 2016, respectively. The three-year peak average occurred in October 2018, when 1,422 MT was sold at EUR 3.08 (USD 3.53) per kg, while the lowest was registered in February 2017 when 1,774 MT was sold for EUR 1.48 (USD 1.70) per kg.
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the average price of EUR 1.87 (USD 2.14) per kg for the aforementioned 10-month period was 35 percent and 42 percent more than in the previous two years. Again, the highest price over the three years was seen in October 2018 when 489 MT was sold for around EUR 2.30 (USD 2.64) per kg, and the lowest (EUR 1.19, USD 1.36) was in March 2017 when 248 MT was sold.
Found in the Barents Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Northeast Atlantic, European plaice is a commercially important flatfish in European Union markets.
The species is subject to total allowable catches (TACs) established on the basis of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). In 2018, quotas for E.U. vessels were set at 15,343 MT in the Skagerrak, 1,483 MT in the Kattegat, and 104,758 MT in the E.U. waters of division 2a (part of division 3a not covered by the Skagerrak and the Kattegat).
Historically, the peak season for the fishery is in the summer months of May to September.
