The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

partners, China and the United States of 
America, has introduced a note of uncertainty 
into the global fish market. While a number 
of heavily traded fish product items such as 
tilapia and lobster have been included on the 
list of tariffs of both countries, it is the wider 
economic impact and general uncertainty that 
have ultimately been the primary drivers of 
a growth slowdown, not only in China and 
the United States of America, but globally. 
Available estimates for 2019 suggest that total 
trade value contracted by about 2 percent in 
both quantity and value compared with the 
previous year. The outbreak of coronavirus 
disease (COVID-19), ongoing at the time of 
writing (March 2020), has already negatively 
impacted trade among key exporters and 
importers in 2020.
Figure 29
shows the top exporters and importers 
of fish and fish products. In addition to being by 
far the major fish producer, China has also been 
the main exporter of fish and fish products since 
2002, and since 2011 the third major importing 
country in terms of value. China’s imports have 
increased in recent years partly as a result of the 
outsourcing of processing from other countries, 
but also reflecting China’s growing domestic 
consumption of species not produced locally. 
According to the latest available estimates for 
2019, China’s exports declined by 7 percent 
compared with 2018 (USD 20 billion versus 
USD 21.6 billion), possibly impacted by trade 
disputes between China and the United States 
of America. 
Since 2004, Norway has been the second major 
exporter, now followed by Viet Nam, which has 
become the third major exporter since 2014. 
Catches by the Norwegian fleet comprise large 
volumes of small pelagics and groundfish species 
such as cod, while Norway’s aquaculture sector 
for salmonids (salmon, trout, etc.) is the largest in 
the world. High cod and salmon prices worldwide 
saw Norway’s seafood export industry achieve 
record export revenues in recent years, peaking at 
USD 12 billion in 2018 before slightly declining 
(–0.1 percent) in 2019. Meanwhile, Viet Nam 
has successfully maintained steady growth in 
recent years, thanks mainly to strong trading 
connections with a fast-growing Chinese market, 
an expanding Pangas catfish (
Pangasius
spp.) 
aquaculture sector in the Mekong Delta, and a 
booming processing and re-export industry. 
Since 2017, India has become the fourth major 
exporter, boosted by a steep increase in farmed 
shrimp production. However, after peaking 
at USD 7.2 billion in 2017, the value of India’s 
exports declined by 3 percent in 2018 and by 
a further 1 percent in 2019 (USD 6.8 billion), 
driven primarily by a decline in shrimp 
prices. In Chile, aquaculture production of 
Atlantic salmon, coho salmon and rainbow 
trout has grown into a modern multibillion 
dollar industry, second only to Norway in 
global aquaculture production. Chile has 
seen sustained export revenue growth on the