The EU imported a record EUR 4.1 billion (USD 4.6 billion) worth of groundfish last year, an increase of EUR 527 million (USD 593 million) compared to 2014, according to new figures published by the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA).
In volume terms, these imports totaled almost 1.2 million metric tons (MT), a decline of 2 percent.
Of these imports, pollock is the second most important species in value (after cod). In 2015, the EU imported 289,000 MT of pollock, which was 3 percent lower than the previous year. However, these imports were valued at EUR 703 million (USD 791 million), 4 percent more. The average price of these imports, EUR 2.43 (USD 2.73), was 15 percent higher than in 2014.
Within the EU, Germany was the biggest market for pollock, importing EUR 341 million (USD 383.7 million) worth of the product last year, an increase of 13 percent. The No. 2 market was France with imports worth EUR 114 million (USD 128.3 million), up 28 percent, followed by Poland with EUR 67 million (USD 75.4 million), up 29 percent, and the Netherlands with EUR 60 million (USD 67.5 million), up 39 percent.
Almost all the pollock imported is frozen and in fillet blocks for use by the processing industry.
China provided 52 percent of the bloc’s pollock imports, an increase of 11 percent compared with 2014, though the fish mainly consisted of fish caught by Russia and processed in China.
At the same time, pollock imports from Vietnam increased 49 percent last year, demonstrating the increased processing capacities in the Southeast Asian country.
