Issue 9/2020 September 2020
Latest trends COVID-19 is still negatively influencing the European fish market, although there have been some surprising developments. Markets actually picked up for certain species such as shrimp and cephalopods, which had previously been amongst the worst affected during the months of March and April when food service establishments closed. Consumers in Northern Europe, rather than travelling to the Southern part of the continent for holidays as they would normally have done during the summer, decided instead to stay home and get their fill of Mediterranean cuisine at their local restaurants.
GROUNDFISH The quantity of wet-salted cod fillets consumed in Italy in any given part of the year is always affected by the outside temperature. Summer is generally a period of low consumption, with the majority of sales concentrated during the winter when cod recipes are generally more popular. On the B2B side, the situation is slightly different because the weather conditions are keeping fishing vessels in port and there’s less stock of raw material available as a result. The net result is expected to be a slight rise in the price of raw material. The hake market in Europe is strong this year. COVID-19 has increased consumption of frozen products at the expense of fresh fish, and hake is the premier species for frozen products. Prices of frozen hake, for all product forms, are increasing.
past ten years, Russia’s TAC has fluctuated between 2.76 1 million tonnes and 3.21 million tonnes. The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted economic hardship on the European consumer, and has brought about a number of changes in consumer purchasing habits. Instead of buying
Index for prices Groundfish
9
Flatfish
10
Tuna
11
Small Pelagics
11
Cephalopods
12
Crustaceans
13
Bivalves
15
Salmon
15
Trout
16
Freshwater fish
16
Non Traditional Species
16
Seabass-SeabreamMeagre
17
The European Fish Price Report, based on information supplied by industry correspondents, aims to provide guidance on broad price trends. Price information is indicative and should be used only for forecasting medium- and long-term trends. FAO is not responsible for any errors or omissions.