Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Assoc.

Canadian seafood export value rose 6.5 % last year, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick leading provinces

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [SCOM] - March 16, 2014

The Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, today released the 2013 trade figures for Canada's exports of fish and seafood products. The value of Canada's seafood exports continued upward, with an overall increase of CAD 268 million or 6.5 percent over the previous year, with total sales reaching CAD4.42 billion.

Canada's biggest seafood export increase overall was to the U.S., which saw an 8 percent increase over the previous year, followed closely by the European Union with an 8.3 percent export value growth. Canada and the European Union last year agreed on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which has been widely welcomed as a major boon for the industry.

The Government of Canada also announced on March 11, that Canada and the Republic of Korea have concluded negotiations for a Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement. The agreement will South Korea's tariffs which peak as high as 47 per cent, on fish and seafood products.

Canada exported fish and seafood products to 123 countries last year, with approximately 63 percent of those exports destined for the United States at a value of CAD2.8 billion.

The People's Republic of China and the European Union are also significant markets, importing more than $454 million and $372 million worth of Canadian fish and seafood products respectively in 2013.

Canada's largest exports by value were lobster, snow/queen crab, farmed Atlantic salmon, and shrimp. In 2013, these species accounted for 47 percent (281 thousand tonnes) of all fish and seafood exports by volume and 62 percent (CAD2.7 billion) of the total value of exports.

In 2013, aquaculture accounted for 13% of Canada's total seafood production and 35% of total seafood value.

The provincial statistics are below.

Nova Scotia exports valued at $1.1 billion with a voluem of 121,802 tonnes (t) of fish and seafood.
Top three exports by value were lobster (30,047 t valued at $449.6 million), scallop (5,464 t valued at $132.0 million), and snow/queen crab (9,706 t valued at $112.4 million).

New Brunswick's value was $1.0 billion, with volume at 98,777 tons. Top three exports by value were lobster (22,473 t valued at $493.4 million), farmed Atlantic salmon (29,240 t valued at $228.5 million) and snow/queen crab (9,701 t valued at $108.2 million).

British Columbia is the 3rd largest province for seafood exports, with a value of $903.7 million and a volume of 159,395 tons. The top three exports by value were farmed Atlantic salmon (38,804 t valued at $266.0 million), crab (6,178 t valued at $90.8 million) and hake (31,692 t valued at $61.5 million).

Newfoundland and Labrador exports were valued at $827.3 million in 2013 with a volume of 144,208 tonnes. Top three exports by value were snow/queen crab (26,111 t valued at $292.8 million), shrimp (56,778 t valued at $252.5 million) and Greenland turbot (8,484 t valued at $50.7 million).

Quebec's export value was $237.7 million in 2013, with a volume of 23,219 tons. Top three exports by value were snow/queen crab (9,158 t valued at $100.2 million), lobster (2,528 t valued at $55.2 million) and shrimp (1,185 t valued at $12.0 million).

Prince Edward Island had exports valued at $205.2 million, and a volume of 23,440 tons. Top three exports by value were lobster (7,327 t valued at $144.2 million), farmed mussel (13,030 t valued at $38.4 million) and oyster (961 t valued at $5.9 million).

Ken Coons
Seafood.com News 1-781-861-1441
Email comments to kencoons@seafood.com