Global Prices of Fish Increased to Record High in May 2013

UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization announced that the global prices of fish reached record high in May 2013 because of rising demand of salmon fish and failing supply of the tuna fish.

Prices for the farmed fish like salmon increased faster than the ones captured from the fisheries in 2012. It is predicted that the aquaculture production would elevate to 5.6 percent in 2013. In the meanwhile, the capture of wild fish would increase 0.9 percent.

There is a structural shift in the consumer demand because of strong demand for salmon despite higher prices. This will have a positive impact on the salmon producers. Similarly, the demand for tuna fish remains strong despite rising prices.

It is forecasted that the overall production of fish will climb 2.9 percent to 161.2 million metric tons in 2013 from 156.7 million tons. The aquaculture output is expected to climb to 70.2 million tons from 66.5 million tons. It is expected that the value of fish exports will climb 2 percent to 130.8 billion US dollar in 2013 after increasing 0.5 percent to 128.2 billion US dollar in 2012.

Tuna supplies to Asian canners are not much in 2013, which led to rising prices of canned fish. Japan’s market for sashimi tuna was strong during beginning of 2013. In the meanwhile, the US market for uncanned tuna was stable.

World production for the farmed salmon is forecasted to be changed just a little at 2.01 million tons, while the output will be down 2.3 percent to 1.05 million tons in Norway, which is the largest producer of salmon.

It is forecasted that the global food consumption will increase to 19.7 kg per capita this year from 19.2 kilograms in 2012.