“Aquaculture, a large reprocessing industry and increasingly affluent domestic consumers are the key reasons why China is by far the biggest player on the world seafood stage. China remains the leading exporter in the seafood industry and is also a key importer of several products, such as fishmeal to feed its large fish farming industry,” said Rabobank.
Rabobank also predicts that Norway, Indian, Viet Nam, Indonesia and Ecuador will continue to further boost their aquaculture/fishery exports.
The EU, US, Japan and China are expected to remain the biggest import markets.
In 2013, the EU imported over $26 billion worth of seafood, $10 billion more than in 2005, mainly due to the increasing price of seafood, not of volume.
The US comes in second with $19 billion worth of imports.
Japan, which used to be the biggest seafood importer, is now experiencing a decline in its imports due to falling consumption and increasing seafood prices, says Rabobank.
