World review of fisheries and aquaculture
and fermentation. These traditional labour-intensive, fish-processing methods provide livelihood support to large numbers of people in coastal areas in many developing countries, and they will probably remain important components in rural economies structured to promote rural development and poverty alleviation. However, in the last decade, fish processing has been evolving also in many developing countries, with increased fish processing. This may range from simple gutting, heading or slicing to more advanced value addition, such as breading, cooking and individual quickfreezing, depending on the commodity and market value. Some of these developments are driven by demand in the domestic retail industry, by a shift in cultured species, by outsourcing of processing and by the fact that producers in developing countries are increasingly being linked with, and coordinated by, firms located abroad. Supermarket chains and large retailers are also emerging as important players in setting requirements for the products they buy. Processing is becoming more intensive, geographically concentrated, vertically integrated and linked with global supply chains. These changes reflect the increasing globalization of the fisheries value chain, with large retailers controlling the growth of international distribution channels. The increasing practice of outsourcing processing at the regional and world levels is very significant, its extent depending on the species, product form, and cost of labour and transportation. For example, in Europe, smoked and marinated products, for which shelf-life and transportation time are important, are being processed in Central and Eastern Europe, in particular in Poland and in the Baltic States. Whole frozen fish from European and North American markets are sent to Asia (China in particular, but also India and Viet Nam) for filleting and packaging, and then re-imported. The further outsourcing of production to developing countries might be restricted by sanitary and hygiene requirements that are difficult to meet as well as by growing labour costs. At the same time, processors are frequently becoming more integrated with producers, especially for groundfish, where large processors in Asia, in part, rely on their own fleet of fishing vessels. In aquaculture, large producers of farmed salmon, catfish and shrimp have established advanced centralized processing plants to enhance the product mix, obtain better yields and respond to evolving quality and safety requirements in importing countries. Processors that operate without the purchasing or sourcing power of strong brands are also experiencing increasing problems linked to the scarcity of domestic raw material, and they are being forced to import fish for their business. Fish trade and commodities Fish and fishery products are among the most traded food commodities worldwide. Trade plays a major role in the fishery industry as a creator of employment, food supplier, income generator, and contributor to economic growth and development. For many countries and for numerous coastal, riverine, insular and inland regions, fishery exports are essential to the economy. For example, in 2010 they accounted for more than half of the total value of traded commodities in Greenland, Seychelles, Faeroe Islands and Vanuatu. In the same year, fishery trade represented about 10 percent of total agricultural exports (excluding forest products) and 1 percent of world merchandise trade in value terms. A significant share of total fishery production is exported in the form of various food and feed items. This share increased from 25 percent in 1976 to about 38 percent (57 million tonnes in 2010 (Figure 21), reflecting the sector’s growing degree of openness to, and integration in, international trade. Sustained demand, trade liberalization policies, globalization of food systems and technological innovations have furthered the overall increase in international fish trade. Improvements in processing, packaging and transportation as well as changes in distribution and marketing have significantly changed the way fishery products are prepared, marketed and delivered to consumers. All these factors have facilitated and increased the movement of production in relative terms from local consumption to international markets. The fishery supply chain is complex as goods might cross national boundaries several times before final consumption, also owing to increasing outsourcing of processing to
67