Salmon Market Intelligence

Industry Outlook & Drivers

Global Seafood Market – Overview

The global seafood industry is highly fragmented, with a supply of approx. 170.9 MMT of fishes annually (both wild caught and aquaculture, 2018) and is estimated to reach 180 MMT in 2020.

Fish capture over the decade has taken a more inland approach, with the major capture type being aquaculture and tuna, shrimp, salmon are the most captured and traded species

• Aquaculture currently holds 48 percent of market share, and it is expected to increase its share in the total capture beyond 50 percent by the end of 2021

Market Drivers and Constraints

Drivers 

Increasing demand for processed/ready-to-cook seafood:

• The seafood industry is gaining momentum, due to convenience and time saving factors
• Increasing disposable income and per capita consumption are also seen favorable for the growth of the industry

R&D/technology:

• Aquaculture is gaining dominance over traditional agricultural practices, wild fish harvesting, etc., due to its volume production

Constraints

Shorter shelf life and disease outbreaks:

• Disease outbreaks can occur both during raising and processing seafood. EMS or Early Mortality Syndrome had caused a substantial decrease in the shrimp production of the leading countries, like China, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc.

Government regulations:

• Every country has its own control mechanism to prevent overfishing and the exhaustion of its resources. Countries, like Thailand, China, have fishing quotas and licenses in place, with respect to their fisheries and seafood industry

Supply–Demand Analysis – Salmon

The global salmon production is estimated to reach 4.1 MMT by 2020 at a growth rate of 4 percent, and the growth will be mainly due to the increasing adoption of salmon farming or aquaculture (currently, more than 80 percent of the global supply is farmed salmon).

• Currently, more than 70 percent of salmon supply is through aquaculture than wild capture, with Norway (CAGR 7 percent) and Chile (CAGR 9 percent) accounting for the major share in harvesting aquaculture supply; and Sweden and Norway accounting for majority share occupying capture supply
• Salmon production is expected to slow down in the future, with industrial biological footprints being the growth constraint