Spain, France and Italy Comprise Over a Half of $4.6B European Frozen Crustacean Imports

IndexBox has just published a new report: 'EU - Frozen Crustaceans - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends And Insights'. Here is a summary of the report's key findings.

The pandemic-related restrictions insignificantly affected the EU trade of frozen crustaceans. In 2020, imports in the EU countries decreased by -6% y-o-y to $4.6B due to supply chain disruptions and limitations of the HoReCa segment. Spain, France and Italy remain the largest importers of frozen crustaceans in the EU, with a combined share of over 50% of the total value. Germany, Netherlands and France increased their imports in 2020, while most other importers experienced slight declines in supplies. 

Frozen Crustaceans Imports in the EU

In 2020, frozen crustaceans imports in the European Union reduced to 601K tonnes, which is down by -2.7% on the year before. In value terms, frozen crustaceans imports dropped to $4.6B in 2020 (IndexBox estimates).

The countries with the highest levels of frozen crustaceans imports in 2020 were Spain (163K tonnes), France (112K tonnes) and Italy (80K tonnes), together amounting to 59% of total import. The Netherlands (53K tonnes) ranks next in terms of total imports with an 8.8% share, followed by Denmark (8.8%) and Germany (6.8%). Belgium (25K tonnes) held a relatively small share of total imports.

In 2020, Germany (+10.7% y-o-y), Netherlands (+6.6% y-o-y) and France (+5.2% y-o-y) increased their imports, while in most other countries they experienced a negative dynamic. 

Over the period from 2012 to 2020, the biggest increases were in the Netherlands, while purchases for the other leaders experienced a decline in the imports figures.

In value terms, Spain ($1.1B), France ($907M) and Italy ($578M) were the countries with the highest levels of imports in 2020, together accounting for 57% of total imports. The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Belgium lagged somewhat behind, together comprising a further 31%.

The frozen crustaceans import price in the European Union stood at $7,653 per tonne in 2020, falling by -2.6% against the previous year. Over the period from 2012 to 2020, it increased at an average annual rate of +1.0%. 

There were significant differences in the average prices amongst the major importing countries. In 2020, the country with the highest price was Germany ($9,845 per tonne), while Denmark ($5,919 per tonne) was amongst the lowest.

Source: IndexBox Platform