Signs of recovery for seafood industry after tough five years
CEO Marcus Coleman is confident there are signs the seafood industry is on the road to recovery following an extremely challenging five years.
Speaking at the Responsible Seafood Summit in St Andrews, Marcus outlined his hope to see an ongoing bounce-back for an industry which continues to adapt to life outside the European Union and recover from disruption caused by Covid-19, the impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UK’s cost of living crisis and more recent supply chain difficulties caused by the war in Gaza.
In a presentation titled ‘Choppy Waters: How the UK Seafood Industry is Navigating Post Brexit Trade’, Marcus revealed that the combined value of UK seafood imports and exports fell by around a billion pounds from the start of this decade. The statistics he shared showed that global factors had caused a fall from £6.45bn in 2019 to £5.28bn in 2024.
Seafood trade reached a peak of almost £6.5bn in 2019 and things were looking bright.
Consumer confidence was strong and the economy was in growth, although worries were bubbling up about the effect Brexit might bring about.
It’s clear that what happened between 2019 and today created a challenging landscape for seafood trade.
The 2020 pandemic disrupted supply chains and slowed down logistics with lockdowns leading to lower volumes of seafood being caught, processed and traded in the UK and internationally.
December 2020 marked the end of the transition period when the UK left the single market and customs union. This created barriers to trading with the EU in the form of paperwork and border checks. Shellfish exports to the EU were the most impacted, with annual value falling by £152.1 million (27%) compared to pre-2020 figures.
Since then, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to higher energy prices with Western countries, including the UK, also imposing economic sanctions on Russia, including a 35% tariff on whitefish consigned from the country.
A cost-of-living crisis in the UK and disruption to trade routes due to the war in Gaza further impacted the seafood industry with cod, tuna, Alaska pollock and mackerel suffering the most serious declines in import value.
Positive signs
But indications from the start of 2024 show consumer confidence is beginning to return with recorded export value growth at 7.9% on the previous 12 months.
Seafood imports remain steady with salmon and cheaper whitefish alternatives to cod such as haddock, pangasius, hake and tilapia enjoying notable improvements.
Marcus welcomed the figures but added the entire sector still had work to do to complete its recovery.
He added:
There are reasons to be optimistic if we look at initial increases in export and import volumes and value since the start of 2024.
The first half of the year is, at last, showing growth and total trade is moving in the right direction again, although it’ll be a long climb back to pre-2020 levels.
For the bounce back to be complete there also needs to be increases in the retail and foodservice sectors, although we understand market analysts are suggesting a cautious outlook.
Organised by the Global Seafood Alliance, the summit brought together 500 seafood professionals to hear from over 70 speakers on emerging issues facing the industry and strategies being put in place to address them.