October 11, 2005

USDA: Denmark fishery products annual 2005

With rising exports over the past ten years, Denmark remains one of the world's leading seafood exporters and the largest in the EU. Denmark imports raw material from other (mainly Nordic) countries and sells fresh or processed product to other EU member countries. While Denmark records the largest landings in the EU, most of these are for industrial production of fishmeal and fish oil.

Seventy percent of raw material imports come from countries outside the EU (principally Norway, Greenland, Faeroe Islands and Russia), although Danish seafood traders increasingly are sourcing their supplies for the European markets from China, Vietnam and other Far East countries.

80 percent of exports are sold within the EU - primarily to Germany (25 percent), France and UK. Apart from trade through Denmark, Danish traders are also active in importing directly from third countries to other EU markets.

Export quantities in 2004 were almost unchanged from 2003. In 2004, Denmark exported 662,000 tons of total fish and seafood products, a slight decrease of 10,000 tons from the previous year. 

In quantity terms, imports of non-processed fish decreased by 11 percent to 409,000 tons and imports of processed fish increased by 7 percent to 151,000 tons. 

A new EC Directive on traceability for seafood (effective as of January 1, 2005) requires labels to indicate whether seafood is farmed or caught wild. Still unresolved is the question of how to label fish that is caught wild and subsequently farm-raised to full maturity. 

On September 6, 2005, the Danish Minister for Food Agriculture and Fisheries launched the marketing of organic farmed fish (mainly trout), a production that had been underway since March 2005.  The organic production focuses on using organic feed, less use of medicine, more attention to fish welfare and less impact on the environment 

For the full USDA report, click here.