APRIL 2020 ❘ VOL. 69
worldfishing.net
ISSUE 3
INFORMING THE GLOBAL FISHING INDUSTRY SINCE 1952 Industry News 4 | Analysis 10 | Fishing Technology 14 | Aquaculture 28 | Newbuild 30
PANDEMIC DISRUPTS SEAFOOD TRADE
INSIGHT
Where next for salmon farming? page 8
NEW HORIZONS
As most of Europe goes into lockdown in response to the spreading Covid-19 pandemic, with the restaurant trade closing its doors, the seafood industry faces ongoing uncertainty. This follows the drop in Chinese demand, with producers in Europe and Russia, the early casualties in a widening pattern of disruption. The seafood trade around the world is encountering logistics barriers in reaching its usual markets, and in some areas fishing vessel operators have been warned that catches cannot be accepted. Fishermen’s organisations have been in consultation with auctions and with government bodies, as the situation continues to change. “We are in a highly dynamic situation. As the virus spreads, new impacts are becoming manifest. Evolving regulatory responses and market reactions, mean that it will be necessary to understand exactly what is happening in a rapidly changing situation,” commented a spokesman for the NFFO, representing the English fishing industry. European fishing industry body Europêche has called for the European Commission to adopt urgent and extraordinary measures to tackle the economic
8 As demand drops, fishing vessels are tying up as owners and crew face falling fish prices
consequences of the pandemic. It has requested that the authorities reassure the public that there is no evidence that seafood or food packaging have been associated with transmission of coronavirus and that there is no reason to be concerned. Europêche is urging the European Commission and Member States to make legislative changes to facilitate measures to support the fishing industry through the crisis, as first sale prices collapse. “Many fishing companies will certainly have to temporarily cease operations because of the decisions taken by national authorities, designation of high risk areas, trade disruptions and lack of market demand,” said Europêche President Javier Garat. “We believe it important that DG MARE communicates to the governments and to the industry the availability of European funds and measures at their disposal, and adopts mechanisms that allow activation of urgent measures to help mitigate the severe economic damage caused by the corona pandemic.”
From fish waste to value added ingredients page 12
PROCESSING & QUALITY
Boulogne company’s focused on freight page 18
CHINA’S DEMAND FOR PROTEIN With African swine fever (ASF) continuing to decimate China’s pig population, and the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak halting the country’s processing sectors, whitefish exporters should find themselves well placed to capitalise on the market’s huge demand for protein, believes Rabobank’s senior analyst for seafood, Gorjan Nikolik. In recent years, China has accounted for about half of world pork production, but the rapid spread of ASF in 2019 led to a massive decrease in supply with an estimated 10 million tonnes taken out of Chinese supply chains. While the further extension of the disease in the country has slowed or even plateaued, a
further 10 million tonnes is expected to be lost in 2020. Putting these figures into context, Nikolik told the recent North Atlantic Seafood Forum (NASF), held in Bergen, Norway, that a potential loss of between 20 and 25 million tonnes of pork is equivalent to losing ten times the total volume of salmon farmed globally, or three times the amount of groundfish produced worldwide. Only half-way into the anticipated pork supply reduction, the Chinese market’s response has been a 250% increase in prices. “And we still have to lose another 10 million tonnes,” he said. 8 Full story on page 4
Van Beelen NET TING ROPES T WINES