June 1, 2005

Australia continues to increase seafood exports to EU

The EU seafood market has grown remarkably in size and the rest of the world has been eager to direct more seafood exports there. Australia, in particular ships more than $40 billion worth of seafood exports to the EU yearly.

The Australian Fisheries Minister, Senator Ian MacDonald said that health-conscious individuals are increasingly turning to seafood as an alternative source of protein. The continued long-term increase in wealth in the EU is also driving demand for high-value seafood products, such as prawns and lobster.

He said that the Australian Government's package of programmes would provide the support for the country's producers to take on the demand, while the country's reputation as a producer of clean and green seafood would give it an edge in the environmentally conscious European markets.