EU. Price Race Punishes Fish Consumption

Across European Union member states, fish consumption is higher than average, with household purchases down by almost 17% during the 2021-2022 biennium. However, due to rising prices, costs have increased by more than ten percentage points compared to 2021. Agrisole magazine, a supplement to the Italian economic and financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, writes about this after analyzing data from a recent market report from the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture EUMOFA.

“The rise in prices,” writes Agrisole, “also had a significant impact on commercial exchanges with third countries. The value of European Union exports was €8.1 billion at the end of 2022, an increase of 19% compared to the previous year.” In terms of quantity, a reduction of 5% is recorded, corresponding to 2.3 million tons. The growth value was higher in import than in EU exports. In this regard, the figures relating to salmon are significant: in terms of quantity, European Union imports fell last year by 3% compared to the results recorded in 2021, but in value they rose by almost 30%, touching the maximum for the last 10 years, namely by 8.4 billion euros.

The EUMOFA report also emphasized that the liability balance in commercial exchanges in this sector with foreign countries has been growing continuously for ten years. During the 2013-2022 period, the deficit increased by 56 percent.

To tackle the alarming decline in the consumption of fish and fishery products, the European Commission has launched a project called “Fishermen of the Future.” The program “aims to address the factors and trends that impact the long-term sustainability and profitability of the fishery sector and the well-being of fishing communities,” with particular reference to the impact of climate change, pollution, and an aging workforce.