Brown Crab export market

Summary

In 2004 the Sea Fish Industry Authority (Seafi sh) commissioned a research study with the purpose of exploring export markets for value added products (VAP) based on brown crab Cancer pagurus. The brown crab business is changing as demand for whole live crab is declining, in favour of pre-processed products. One of the primary objectives of this study was to identify the key European markets and monitor trends. Today cooking and peeling is done either by crab processing specialists, in supermarkets (cooking done in shops) or by restaurant chefs. Transporting and especially packing are done all along the brown crab value chain. The market is moving drastically from traditional live to fresh cooked and packed cooked meat which is ready-to-eat.

Author

• Seafish Economics

Publication date

01 January 2004