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Mackerel Market Report - August
2008
Exports Frozen Mackerel: Norway
Norwegian exports of frozen mackerel in the first 3 months of this year
showed a similarly slow start to the year as in 2007, with only 24200 tonnes
compared with 24500 tonnes for the same period of 2007. Full year
figures for 2007 were 339000 tonnes.
China
and Japan
remain the most important markets, with 4400 tonnes going to Japan, up from
2900 tonnes, and 6600 tonnes exported to China, down
slightly from 7000 tonnes. These first quarter figures represent less than
10% of the full year quantities taken by these countries in 2007, with 119700
tonnes exported to Japan
and 60200 tonnes to China.
Other major markets for frozen mackerel include Turkey, where
sales were up 65% during the period from 2600 tonnes to 4000 tonnes.
Supplies to Ukraine
and the Russian
Federation also got
off to a slow start, with Ukraine taking
1900 tonnes as opposed to 5000 tonnes for the first quarter of 2007, while
the Russian Federation
imported just 1,000 tonnes of Norwegian mackerel to the end of March,
compared with 2,100 tonnes in 2007. This was a direct result of ongoing
problems with the Russian Rood Inspectorate. However, exports to these two
countries represented around a fifth of total Norwegian exports in 2007,
having steadily increased in overall importance over the last few years.
Russia
has now lifted the restrictions on imports from Norway, which
were put into place in late 2007 following inspections of Norwegian
processing units by the Russian veterinary inspectorate. This is good news
for herring and mackerel fisheries. Similar problems were encountered in the UK
following a visit by the Russians, and a high level veterinary delegation was
made to Moscow
in June 2008. This has resulted in the Russians agreeing to re-audit in the
autumn, leaving processors scrabbling to comply with Russia’s
factory and hygiene code, which is based on different criteria to the
standard HACCP used in most of Europe.
Poland
stepped up its first quarter imports of mackerel from 200 tonnes to 1000
tonnes, while the Korean Republic
reduced theirs from 1400 tonnes to 200 tonnes. Eastern Europe in particular looks as if
it will play an increasingly important role as a destination for Norwegian
pelagic fish in the future.
Aggregated figures for other countries were up from 3300 tonnes to 5000
tonnes for the first three months of 2008, compared to 40000 tonnes taken
during the whole of 2007.
German Frozen Mackerel Imports
Germany’s imports of frozen mackerel during the
first 3 months of the year showed a 21% increase on the figures for the same
period in 2007, with a total of 1700 tonnes compared to 1400 tonnes.
The whole of this increase came from imports from the UK, which
also took up the slack caused by reduced imports from Ireland, Denmark and
others.
UK
figures were up 700% from 100 tonnes to 700 tonnes,
while imports from Ireland
were down 20% from 500 tonnes to 400 tonnes and imports from Denmark were
down 40% from 500 tonnes to 300 tonnes.
Imports from the Netherlands
were unchanged at 200 tonnes and the aggregated figures for other countries
were down 100 tonnes from 200 tonnes.
Full year figures for 2007 were 5200 tonnes, which continues the decrease of
around 10% seen annually for the last few years.
Demand in China
for mackerel continues to increase, with a recent BANR Japan report
suggesting a 10% annual growth in demand in the future. China has already
increased its catch from 250,000 tonnes in 2005 to an estimated 375,000
tonnes in 2008, and this is expected to rise by another 80,000 tonnes by 2010
to keep up with demand.
In the UK,
the 150,000 tonne UK Western Mackerel stock is expected to achieve Marine
Stewardship Council (MSC) certification later this year, making it one of the
largest pelagic stocks to achieve this standard. The UK is one
of the world’s largest retailers of MSC-certified
fish. Norway
is also putting fisheries forward for MSC certification, including the
Norwegian north east Atlantic mackerel fishery.
In Spain,
Jealsa, market leader in the canning industry,
announced Friend of the Sea certification for mackerel and sardines. It is
now selling FoS labelled products under its Rianxeira brand in Spain, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and the UK. Canned
products including mackerel from Aveiro Maroc have also been recently certified by Friend of the
Sea.
By Nicki
Holmyard (EUROFISH)
© FAO GLOBEFISH 2007
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