Seafood industry overview

Seafood is a multi-billion pound industry in the UK. Four out of five households consume seafood at least once a month and total purchases of seafood in the UK were worth £5.84 billion in 2010.

Here are some key statistics:

UK Fish Industry

• In 2010 the UK fishing industry had 6477 vessels, most under 10m in length
• There were 12700  UK fishermen in 2010. 6889 in England  & Wales,  5166 in Scotland and 648 in Northern Ireland

UK catch

• In 2010, UK vessels landed 410,696 tonnes of seafood worth £548 million. Compared with 2009, this is an increase  of 5% in quantity and a 5% increase in value.
• By volume the UK catch is spread fairly equally between demersal, pelagic and shellfish species.
• Shellfish, such as langoustine and scallops, account for almost half of all landings by value, followed by demersal species such as monkfish, and then pelagic species, such as mackerel.

UK ports

• Top three ports, by volume, are Peterhead, Shetland and Fraserburgh,
• The top English port is Plymouth.

UK seafood exports

• The UK exports most of the seafood it catches.  Foreign seafood markets greatly value UK species such as langoustine, crab and mackerel, while domestic consumers continue to focus mainly on a smaller range of species such as cod, salmon and haddock.
• In 2010, just over 512,400 tonnes of seafood worth £1.33 billion was exported from the UK.
• Main export markets for UK seafood are France, Spain, Italy, the Irish Republic and the USA which between them accounted for around 50% (by value) of the seafood exported from the UK.

• High value shellfish like langoustine, crab and scallops and exported to the French, Spanish and Italian markets

• pelagic species are destined mainly for Russian, Dutch French markets

UK seafood imports

• In 2010, a total of 687,054 tonnes of seafood worth £2.23 billion was imported into the UK.
• The imports reflect traditional British tastes in seafood
  • cod, haddock and other white fish from Iceland, Norway and Denmark
  • salmon from Faroe & Norway
  • salmon and pollock from the USA
  • cold water prawns from Denmark and Canada
  • tuna from Mauritius and the Seychelles
  • warm water prawns from India and the Far East
  • Aquaculture imports such as warm water prawns continue to increase

Processing

• The UK fish processing industry provides 14,331 full time jobs in 384 units (2010)
• Humberside and the Grampian region of Scotland dominate the processing industry.
• Concentrations of secondary processing units are found in the Humberside, North England and South/Midlands/Wales regions
• Processors sell seafood products to wholesale, retail, foodservice and export markets, and demands vary depending on who they supply.

Retail sector

• The UK retail market for seafood was worth over £2.84 billion in 2010
• The most popular species of seafood in retail is salmon, followed closely by tuna, cod, haddock and warm water prawns.  
• Supermarkets dominate the seafood retail market with over 87% share of spend.

Fresh v frozen

• Chilled seafood accounts for 56% of the market by value, frozen 27%, ambient 18%

Foodservice

• The foodservice sector covers fish and chip shops, canteens, hotels and restaurants.
• In 2010, consumers spent £3.0 billion on servings which included seafood from these "out of home" outlet or just under one billion servings of seafood.
• Fried fish dominates the foodservice sector, with 33% of the sector share, followed by seafood sandwiches, such as prawn and tuna.
• Whitefish, such as cod, haddock and pollock, is the most popular choice in foodservice, making up more than 80% of the total spend.

For more information on this data please contact

R_watson@seafish.co.uk