EU Fish Market report highlights falling consumption, volatile prices and shifting trade patterns shaping European fisheries and aquaculture markets. Photo: European Union
Consumers Cutting Back On Fresh Fish At Home
The European Commission’s 2025 edition of the EU Fish Market report paints a difficult picture for the European fisheries and aquaculture market, marked by volatile prices, uneven global supply and sustained pressure on household spending.
Based on data available up to the start of 2025, the report shows EU consumer spending on fishery and aquaculture products rose by 4 per cent in 2024 to €62.8 billion. This increase, however, was driven by higher prices rather than increased consumption, as overall volumes fell.
At-home consumption of fresh fish declined by 5 per cent in 2024. The downward trend continued in the EU’s highest-consuming countries, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal and Germany, following a pattern first observed in 2021. Over the medium term, reduced consumer purchasing power has had a clear impact on demand, with prices for fishery and aquaculture products rising by more than 25 per cent between 2020 and 2024, still lower than increases seen for other animal proteins.
Household nominal expenditure on fishery and aquaculture products in 2024 (and variation from 2023). Image: EU Commission
Trade With Non-EU Countries Softens
Trade with non-EU countries showed mixed signals. Imports totalled 5.9 million tonnes valued at €29.9 billion in 2024, representing a 1 per cent decrease in real-terms value and a marginal 0.3 per cent increase in volume compared with 2023. Exports rose by 1 per cent in value to €8.25 billion, despite export volumes falling to 2.2 million tonnes, their lowest level since 2019.
Extra-EU trade balance for fishery and aquaculture products by preservation state (EUR billion, in real terms, baseline: 2020). Image: EU Commission
As a result, the EU’s trade deficit for fishery and aquaculture products narrowed by 2 per cent in 2024 to €21.61 billion, marking the first reduction since 2018. By comparison, the United States saw its trade deficit grow by 5 per cent, while Japan recorded a decrease of around 3 per cent.
Evolution of intra-EU trade of fishery and aquaculture products (in real terms, base: 2020). Image: EU Commission
Consumption Falls As Self-Sufficiency Improves
Apparent consumption in the EU continued to decline, falling to 22.89 kilograms per capita in 2023, the lowest level recorded in a decade and a 3 per cent drop compared with 2022. Consumption of wild-caught products fell to 16.35 kilograms per capita, while farmed products accounted for 6.53 kilograms.
Against this backdrop, the EU self-sufficiency rate increased for the first time since 2018, reaching 38.1 per cent. Portugal remained the highest consumer of fish and seafood per capita in the EU, at 53.61 kilograms in 2023.
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Self-sufficiency rate of some key species. Image EU Commission
Market Transparency Remains Central Aim
“The EU Fish Market” has been published annually since 2014 and is produced by the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products. The European Commission says the report is intended to support evidence-based policymaking by improving transparency and understanding of evolving market dynamics across the fishing sector and aquaculture industry.
