September 4, 2013

Spain's seafood imports from EU countries drop by 21.7%

Over the past year, Spainimported 375,040 tonnes of fishery and aquaculture products from the Member States of the EU, a figure which shows a fall of 21.7% compared to 2011, when 478,986 tonnes had been purchased.

According to the April Fisheries Statistics report issued in April 2013, published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Magrama), last year the imports amounted to €1,247.9 million (US$1.64 billion) and in 2011, they were €1,580.6 million (US$2.1 billion).

In addition, Spain imported 1,001,858 tonnes of fishing-aquaculture products from third countries for €3,268.6 million (US$4.3 billion) in 2012.

The report issued by the Magrama also details that last year Spain exported 565,362 tonnes of marine resources to EU nations for €1,967.2 million (US$2.6 billion), and to third countries, 355,198 tonnes for €774 million (US$1 billion).

The official report states that the purchases from other EU states fell in all seafood, but especially in the case of live fish, descending more than 40%, from 6,227 tonnes in 2011 to 3,695 tonnes in 2012. They also experienced significant declines in imports of prepared and canned products (27%), molluscs (20%) and fishmeal (31%).

In 2012, Spain imported 152,322 tonnes of fresh or chilled fish from European nations for EUR492.9 million (US$650 million) while a year earlier it had purchased 167,538 tonnes for €575.3 million (US$758 million). It also imported 66,725 tonnes of frozen fish for €120.8 million (US$160 million), compared with 108,011 tonnes for €141.4 million (US$186 million) in 2011.

According to statistics from Magrama, in 2012 the fishing trade balance left a negative balance of €1,775 million (US$2.34 billion) in 2012: 1,376,898 tonnes of aquaculture-fishery products were imported for €4,516.6 million (US$6 billion) while 920,560 tonnes were exported for €2,741.3 million (US$3.6 billion). This deficit was lower than that of 2011, which reached €2,285 million (US$3 billion) when 1,629,713 tonnes were imported for €5,262 million (US$7 billion) and 1,054,810 tonnes for €2,976.7 million (US$4 billion).