In January-September 2016, the first-sales value of fisheries products increased, in comparison with the same period, in 2015 in Denmark (up 15%), Lithuania, Portugal and the United Kingdom, according to the latest report by the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture products, published on 16 December.
The report also shows, that in Italy first sales fell in both value (down 1%) and volume (down 11%), compared with the same period in 2015. In January-September 2016, in Spain (31 ports), landings of fresh fish (162,378 tonnes) increased slightly (by 1%) compared with January-September 2015, but were down 7% on January-September 2014. In September 2016, 18,000 tonnes of fresh fish were landed, up 2% and down 15% compared with September 2015 and 2014 respectively.
In France, January-September 2016 saw first sales fall slightly: down by 2% in volume and by 1% in value compared with January-September 2015. In September 2016, thanks to the sharp rise in the average price (up 9% compared with September 2015), the fall in in first sales value (down 8%) was not as great as the fall in volume (down 16%). The value of the top three species, monkfish, sole and hake, fell significantly (down 5%, 10% and 18% respectively).
In September 2016, first-sales value of Norway lobster increased in Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden but decreased slightly in the UK, the Observatory reports. By contrast, cod first-sales value decreased in Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden and increased in the UK. Both France and Portugal experienced increased first-sales price for sole and the opposite trend for monk and hake. Sardine first-sales price increased in France, but decreased in Portugal.
In the first six months of 2016, EU imports from third countries amounted to €11.6 billion, an 8% increase over the same period in 2015. Intra-EU trade increased 9%, to almost €12 billion. Cephalopod imports from third countries totalled €893 million, 20% more than in the first half of 2015. Octopus imports increased in both value (up 10%) and volume (up 5%) to €318 million and 54,200 tonnes. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)