UK seafood supply chain overview

Find out how the seafood supply chain in the UK is performing. Our data includes landings, aquaculture, processing, imports, exports and consumption.

Seafood is a globally traded commodity, with complex and integrated supply chains.​ In the UK, we import most of the seafood we eat and export most of the seafood we catch or farm.  

Overall, our UK seafood industry is worth £9.5bn per annum. This is 5% down on pre-covid levels as the sector tries to recover from challenges brought on by Brexit, Covid and the current economic situation.   

Annual seafood supply chain data

Each year, we pull together all the data we have on seafood supply, processing and markets to tell the story of how the seafood industry is performing. UK Seafood in Numbers 2021 is our latest product. It is a great resource for anyone who wants to know more about the seafood industry.

Image of icons from left to right showing seafood supply chain. Text says Landings, Aquaculture, Imports, Processing, Retails, Foodservice and Exports
A simple overview of the UK seafood supply chain. Use our interactive UK Seafood in Numbers 2021 PDF to explore the story and the data in 2021.

Follow the link below to access UK Seafood in Numbers 2021.

UK seafood supply and markets

Graphic of map of the world with icons for fishing landings, imports and aquaculture in the UK.
Most the seafood we eat in the UK is imported and we export most of what we catch and farm.

In 2021, the supply of our seafood in the UK came from: 

  • Imports worth 3.2billion equal to 1,187,995 tonnes. By value, 43% of imports were wild caught and 37% of imports was farmed.  
  • Fish farmed in the UK worth £1billion equal to 216,790 tonnes. 
  • Fish landed in the UK worth £713million equal to 413,993 tonnes 
Graphic of a map of the UK with icons for retail, foodservice, exports and landings.

In 2021, seafood we produced or sold went to: 

  • Retailers in the UK worth £4.2 billion equal to 425,599 tonnes 
  • Foodservices outlets in Great Britain worth £3.5 billion equal to 119,816 tonnes 
  • Exported around the world worth £1.6 billion equal to 445, 285 tonnes 
  • UK fishing vessels also landed £215 million of catch overseas equal to 243,405 tonnes 

The information in UK Seafood in Numbers 2021 is also available on our dedicated sector pages: 

UK Seafood in Numbers is published annually in the Autumn. If you are looking for more recent data, email Seafish@seafish.co.uk or get in touch with our Press Office for media enquiries.   

Quarterly seafood supply chain analysis

The seafood industry is diverse and there are many factors that influence its performance. We look at what is affecting the seafood supply chain each quarter and publish data and analysis. The reports are released around 4 months after the end of each quarter.  

Our most recent report covered July to September 2022. You can access the analysis on our Tableau dashboard using the link below (this will take you to the Tableau website). You can also download PDFs from our website. The most recent 2022 reports are listed below.  

To access reports prior to 2022, which date back to January 2020, please search for 'UK Seafood Supply Chain Overview' by using the search tool at the top of this webpage. 

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