The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
Coding System (HS), developed and maintained 
by the World Customs Organization (WCO). 
The most aggregated level within this system 
is the six-digit level, and classification at this 
level should be uniform across all reporting 
bodies. Individual countries and territories 
may often introduce additional commodity 
categories at lower levels of aggregation in 
order to take into account certain products 
or groups of products that are of particular 
relevance. FAO worked with the WCO to 
improve the detail of the HS codes classifying 
fish and fish products in the 2012 and 2017 
revisions of the HS classification to address 
the issue of inadequate breakdown by species 
and product forms. However, there remains 
significant scope for improvement in terms of 
the distinctions made between different species 
and product types. One notable distinction that 
is not made explicit within the HS framework 
at the six-digit level is that of farmed versus 
wild capture products. The most reliable 
current estimates put the approximate share of 
aquaculture products in international trade at 
one-quarter of total quantity and one-third of 
total value. If fish products for direct human 
consumption only are taken into account, the 
share increases to 27–29 percent of traded 
volumes, and 36–38 percent of value.
Over 90 percent of the quantity (live 
weight equivalent) of trade in fish and fish 
products consisted of processed products 
(i.e. excluding live and fresh whole fish) in 
2018, with frozen products representing the 
highest share. The high perishability of fish 
notwithstanding, consumer demand and 
innovative chilling, packaging and distribution 
technology have led to increased trade in 
live, fresh and chilled fish, which represented 
about 10 percent of world fish trade in 2018. 
About 78 percent of the quantity exported 
consisted of products destined for human 
consumption. Much fishmeal and fish oil is 
traded because, generally, the major producers 
(in South America, Northern Europe and 
Asia) are not the same countries as the main 
consumption centres (in Europe and Asia).
The value given above for exports of fish 
and fish products in 2018, USD 164 billion, 
does not include an additional USD 2 billion 
from trade in seaweeds and other aquatic 
plants (63 percent), inedible fish by-products 
(29 percent), and sponges and corals 
(8 percent). Trade in aquatic plants increased 
from USD 65 million in 1976 to more than 
USD 1.3 billion in 2018, with Indonesia, Chile 
and the Republic of Korea the major exporters, 
and China, Japan and the United States of 
America the leading importers. Owing to 
the increasing production of fishmeal and 
other products derived from fish processing 
by-products (see the section Fish utilization 
and processing, p. 59), trade in inedible 
fish by-products has also surged, up from 
USD 9 million in 1976 to USD 600 million 
in 2018.
Trade in fish and fishery products is 
characterized by great diversification among 
species and product forms. This reflects 
differences in consumers’ tastes and 
preferences, with markets ranging from live 
aquatic animals to a wide range of processed 
products. Salmonids have been the most 
important commodity traded in value terms 
since 2013 and accounted for about 19 percent 
of the total value of internationally traded 
fish products in 2018. In the same year, the 
other main groups of exported species were 
shrimps and prawn with about 15 percent of the 
total, followed by groundfish (i.e. hake, cod, 
haddock, Alaska pollock, etc.) at 10 percent and 
tuna (9 percent) (
Figure 33
). In 2018, fishmeal 
represented about 3 percent of the value of 
exports, and fish oil 1 percent. A number of 
high-volume but relatively low-value species are 
also traded in large quantities both nationally 
and at the regional and international levels. 
The FAO Fish Price Index (FPI) is calculated 
across a range of prices for the major species 
groups. The FPI index value of 100 is the 
average price observed over the base period 
2014–16. Despite the sharp drop in FPI levels 
following the 2008–09 global financial and 
economic crisis and price variations associated 
primarily with boom and bust for certain 
heavily traded aquaculture species, overall fish 
prices have followed an upward trend due to 
limitations on supply growth, particularly for 
capture fisheries, and continued strong demand 
worldwide. International fish prices were about 
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PART 1 
WORLD REVIEW
3 percent lower, on average, in 2019 compared 
with the previous year (
Figure 34
). This was 
primarily due to price declines for many 
important farmed species, including shrimp, 
salmon, Pangas catfishes and tilapia, but also 
for canned tuna, as a consequence of supply 
outpacing demand.
Salmon and trout
Salmon, particularly farmed Atlantic salmon, 
has proved a versatile and popular seafood item 
that aligns with trends in modern consumer 
preferences. Driven by strong demand in 
both developed and developing markets 
in almost every world region, salmon has 
become the largest single fish commodity by 
value. The markets for farmed coho salmon, 
rainbow trout and wild salmon species from 
North Pacific fisheries have all experienced 
growth, but it is Atlantic salmon that accounts 
for the largest proportion of export revenue. 
Atlantic salmon aquaculture, led by Norway 
FIGURE 33
SHARE OF MAIN GROUPS OF SPECIES IN FISH TRADE IN TERMS OF VALUE, 2018 
Other molluscs/
aquatic
invertebrates