Crab landings in the European Union reached 55,500 metric tons (MT) in 2016, an increase of 6 percent compared with the previous year, according to the latest figures from the European Commission’s European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA).
More than half the volume – some 32,000 MT – was landed in the United Kingdom, followed by France (17 percent), Ireland (14 percent) and Greece (5 percent). In value terms, the total crab catch was worth EUR 102.9 million (USD 126.2 million), an increase of EUR 1 million (USD 1.2 million) compared with 2015.
EUMOFA found that the average landing price for crab in the EU increased by 7 percent from EUR 1.82 (USD 2.23) per kg in 2012 to EUR 1.95 (USD 2.39) in 2015, but fell back to EUR 1.85 (USD 2.27) in 2016.
It also highlighted that the three member states taking the largest landings of crab have experinced relatively fluctuating prices since 2012, with the average price in France being 70 percent higher than in Ireland – EUR 2.73 (USD 3.35) per kg compared with around EUR 1.30 (USD 1.59). This, said EUMOFA, was made possible by the growing share of spinous spider crab in total landings and the lower price of the species at EUR 1.78 (USD 2.18) being 35 percent less than the brown crab price.
The EU’s brown crab landings in 2016 totaled 42,500 MT worth EUR 74.3 million (USD 91.1 million), up from 40,300 MT worth EUR 69.8 million (USD 85.6 million) in the previous year; while the spinous spider crab landings reached 6,000 MT worth EUR 13.5 million (USD 16.6 million), rising from 5,600 MT worth EUR 12.9 million (USD 15.8 million) in 2015.
EU markets also imported 12,000 MT of crab, with most of the volume attributed to snow crab and king crab, as well as Chinese mitten crab and blue swimming crab.
Meanwhile, the bloc’s crab exports in 2016 totaled 10,000 MT, which was 8,000 MT more than in 2010, with the growth mainly attributed to the increase in shipments of frozen whole crab from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain. Over the same period, brown crab exports experienced a 11-fold increase from approximately 260 MT in 2010 to 3,000 MT in 2016. This is mainly the result of increased exports to Asian countries, including China, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
