May 23, 2018

Spain maintains appetite for cephalopod

Spain, the largest importer of cephalopod in the world, was Vietnam's third-largest buyer, picking up 1.2% of the total export value of Vietnamese cephalopod, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Despite a 9.1% decrease in cephalopod exports to the EU in the first two months, shipments to Spain increased 104% to US$0.9 million, compared with the same period in 2017. In February alone, exports to Spain reached $0.4 million, a sharp increase of 1,253.4% over February 2017.

As the largest importer of cephalopod in the world, Spain accounts for 16.9% of the total global import value of this item. In the last five years (2013-2017), cephalopod imports into this country increased continuously, peaking at $1.1 billion in 2016.

In 2017, however, imports of cephalopod into Spain dropped 95%, reaching only US$51.7 million. In recent years, a fall in the world cephalopod production led to a sharp rise in the price of this item, VASEP noted.

According to VASEP, Portugal was the largest supplier of cephalopod to Spain in 2017, accounting for 24.5% of the total import value of cephalopod into this country; followed by Peru with 16% and France with 12.5%. Vietnam ranked as the 14th-largest supplier of cephalopod to Spain, accounting for 0.9% of total import value.

Two main products imported into Spain included squid, accounting for 43.6% of total imports in 2017 and live/fresh/chilled octopus, making up 25.4%.