STAG News Bites: 📊Consumption and trade update; 🌳Sustainability links; 🎪Guangzhou Seafood Expo

Some of these articles are in foreign languages and can be automatically translated on Google Chrome. 

Note: These articles are a round-up of news media in key seafood markets. The information is provided as part of our market intelligence service to Australian seafood exporters. The views expressed in the media articles are not those of the STAG and are in no way endorsed by us. 

📊 Consumption and trade update

Despite record seafood consumption and trade in the last couple of years, demand is now down in the EU and USA, causing Vietnam, a major exporter, to downgrade sales expectations.

Inflation has become a major factor in a decline in demand for seafood in Europe, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council. Read more on the FishFarmer website here.

Seafoodsource.com reports that inflation has continued to dampen retail demand in the USA for May 2023, even as fresh and frozen seafood prices dropped. Read more here (paywall to read full article).

Reflecting the current demand situation in the US and EU markets, Vietnam's seafood exports were revised down by 10 percent to US$9 billion for this year. Read more from Vietnam News here.

At the same time, figures released by the National Fisheries Institute show that US seafood consumption in 2021 reached an all-time high. The top three most-consumed species were shrimp, salmon, and canned tuna. Read more on the Seafoodsource.com website here.

Perhaps not unrelated to the above, Indian authorities have reported an all-time high in seafood exports in FY 2022-23 with growth of around 27 percent by volume and 4 percent by value over FY 2021-22. The growth was driven by shrimp exports to the USA. China was another major customer. Read the announcement here. More Indian media relating to this story here.

🌳 Sustainability links

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has held an event in Shanghai to commemorate ten years of activity in the China market. According to MSC CEO Rupert Howes, ‘In the past decade, MSC has carried out relevant work with the support of Chinese partners. After ten years of accumulation and precipitation, the sustainable seafood market in China has begun to take shape’. Read more here (Chinese).

Intrafish reports on “a growing number of companies being increasingly cautious in their environmental messaging to avoid reputational damage and legal repercussions from making exaggerated sustainability claims”. Read more about this trend on the Intrafish website here.

🎪 China: Guangzhou International Fisheries & Seafood Expo

The 9th Guangzhou International Fisheries & Seafood Expo will be held on 15-17 September. Learn more on the website here (Chinese).

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The Seafood Trade Advisory Group (STAG) is jointly funded by the Australian government and the fishing industry. We receive funds from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC).which is a statutory authority within the portfolio of the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Water and the Environment. 

 Any information provided in this STAG publication is general in nature. Before acting on any information provided, you should consider its appropriateness to your individual circumstances and business objectives.