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Courtesy of NAA:

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (UN-FAO) reported in their biannual Food Outlook report that “the global seafood industry in 2014 was characterized by sustained high prices for many important species, and…the shift towards relatively greater consumption of farmed species compared with wild fish hit a milestone in 2014, when the farmed sector’s contribution to fish food supply overtook that of wild fish for the first time.”  Additional highlights in the report include:

• Overall fish production is estimated to have grown by only 1% to 164.3 million tonnes, boosted by a 5% expansion of aquaculture to 74.3 million tonnes, which compensated for a 2% contraction in wild fish output to 90.0 million tonnes.
• Supply in 2015 is likely to see a small rebound in wild catches from the 2014 El Niño-related shortfall in anchevota, to 90.6 million tonnes, and a further 5% growth in aquaculture production to 78.0 million tonnes. As a result, fish production is forecast to reach 168.6 million tonnes in 2015, up 2.6% from the previous year.
• Booming demand in Eastern Asia, together with a strong increase in fishmeal prices and impressive shrimp exports from Asia and from Latin America and the Caribbean are estimated to have boosted the value of world fish exports by 5.4% to USD 143.9 billion.
• Despite a surge of export revenues by developed countries in the last quarter of 2014, developing countries continue as frontrunners in the expansion of fish trade, earning USD 78.7 billion through exports in 2014, 6.3% more than in the previous year.
• According to the FAO Fish Price Index, prices were up by 5% in 2014, sustained by strong increases of farmed fish prices, which gained 12%, while prices of captured fishes were barely changed.
• The overall outlook for seafood trade in 2015 is generally positive, although prices are forecast to soften for some species. More specifically, increasing production will exert downward pressure on shrimp prices, while salmon price prospects have been revised downwards due to expectations of sustained production growth in Norway and an overreliance on the US market to absorb volumes.
• Anchoveta catches are predicted to increase in 2015, which is good news for the growing number of aquaculture producers who use anchoveta as feedstuffs in their operations.
• Consumer demand for fish remains strong, with more people worldwide appreciating the health benefits of regular fish consumption. Direct human consumption, which accounts for more than 85% of all fish uses, is now projected to grow by 2% to 147.5 million tonnes. This would result in only a slight increase in per capita fish intake, from 20.0 kg in 2014 to 20.1 kg in 2015, a consequence of firm fish product prices and slowing income growth in several important markets.

To download or read the complete report, visit http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4581e.pdf.  The Fish and Fishery Products analysis begins on page 66.