COVID

The US fishing and seafood sector has generated more than USD 200 billion (~EUR 165 billion) in yearly sales and supported 1.7 million jobs in recent years. 2020, however, resulted in broad declines due to the COVID-19 public health crisis, according to a new NOAA Fisheries analysis. The protective measures introduced in March across the United States and around the world had an almost immediate impact on seafood sector sales. 2020 started strong with a three percent increase in commercial fish landings revenue in January and February. Revenues, however, declined monthly from a 19% decrease in March to a 45% decrease by July, resulting in a 29% decrease for the first seven months compared to 5-year averages and adjusted for inflation.

Norway exported 2.7 million tonnes of seafood worth NOK 105.7 billion (~EUR 10.2 billion) in 2020. This is the second-highest value ever and is the equivalent to 37 million meals every day throughout the year or 25,000 meals per minute. The total volume of seafood exports increased by 2 per cent in 2020, while the value was reduced by 1 per cent, or NOK 1.5 billion, compared with the record year of 2019. Seafood exports for the second year in a row exceeded the ‘magical’ NOK 100 billion mark and that this was achieved during the corona pandemic in 2020 was fantastic, said Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, Minister of Fisheries and Seafood.

The latest Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet has been released showing a profitable fishing fleet in 2020, despite the effects of COVID-19. In 2008, the EU fishing fleet was barely breaking even and ten years later it registered a net profit of EUR 800 million. This significant progress was the result of higher average fish prices, lower fuel costs, and improved stocks of important species. This trend continued into 2019. The COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 interrupted the trend with estimates suggesting that the economic performance of the EU fleets decreased by 17% in landed value, 19% in employment and 29% in net profits compared to 2019.   Despite the impact of COVID-19, projections indicate that the EU fleet is resilient and would end 2020 with a reasonable level of profitability as a result of the efforts made by the sector in the previous years. This includes fishing to the maximum sustainability yield combined with low fuel prices.

This article was featured in EUROFISH Magazine 5 / 2020. As in other countries the pandemic’s impact on the hotel, restaurant, and catering sector was brutal. Producers of canned fish products, an important part of the Latvian processing industry, however experienced an uptick in demand as consumers took to stockpiling shelf stable goods and those with long expiry dates in the early days of the virus’ spread.

According to Marketing Director Jānis Endele, Karavela will continue its development plans despite Covid-19, LETA reports.…