The Market Summary of SA Seafood shows a healthy and buoyant industry.
SA's seafood markets will continue to grow, as SA products appeal to more higher value markets around the world, according to the recently released 2007-2008 Market Summary of SA Seafood.
The summary details the state’s key seafood markets and the competitive position of SA seafood products in those markets.
The report shows around
$338 million worth of SA seafood was exported during the 2007-2008 period.
This includes sales of $192 million to Japan, $124 million to Hong Kong and $23 million to other export markets.
Seafood sales to interstate markets reached $163 million, while local sales hit $66 million.
“For most products, sales are currently concentrated in a single market,” report author Matthew Palmer, Senior Market Analyst, SA Food Centre said.
For example, he said SA’s single largest value seafood product, Bluefin Tuna, is sold almost exclusively in Japan.
“Five years ago, lobsters were sent direct to both Hong Kong and China but are now mainly sent via Hong Kong. Prawns had seen a shift from a large export focus to markets in Japan and Europe, but are now largely sold in Australia.
Oysters and mussels, while showing an increase in exports in recent years, are still largely sold in Australia. Abalone is mainly exported, with Hong Kong the largest market for SA abalone and smaller amounts sold to Japan and other export markets.”
Matthew said processed tuna, fish and other fisheries products such as crabs and squid were largely sold domestically.
“Fish exports are growing and sold to a wide range of markets, with particular growth noted in Europe in recent years.”
SA seafood sales in Australia have also shown recent growth as Australian consumption of seafood has grown steadily over the last 20 years. While Australian per capita expenditure on seafood is increasing, it still remains much lower than markets such as Japan, Hong Kong and many European countries. The increasing Australian consumption of seafood is mainly due to an increase in the consumption of imported seafood. SA produces less than 5% of all seafood sold in Australia.
In other report findings:
“The SA Seafood Plan seeks to position SA as a world seafood supplier, delivering to the ‘white table cloths of the world’,”
Matthew said.
“In line with this, the state’s biggest export market includes two of the world’s premium seafood markets, Japan and Hong Kong. Accessing food service and hospitality distribution channels in these and other premium markets is an important challenge to grow the premium sector of SA seafood.”
Major consumer trends in food include health, convenience and pleasure, and seafood in general is well placed to take advantage. Increasingly consumers are also looking for credence attributes of their food products, attributes that are not identifiable by the look, feel or taste of the actual food. These include ethical production, natural ingredients, environmental impact and sustainability.
SA’s clean waters and sustainable fishery and aquaculture management provide the opportunity to differentiate and promote SA seafood in line with these trends.
Matthew says “SA is only a small producer of seafood on the world scale. While there is scope for increasing production through aquaculture, growing value for the industry will require targeting markets where the characteristics of the products are valued and good returns are achieved.”
Maximising returns require the development of value chains to understand customer and consumer requirements and to have the supply chain partnerships and capability to deliver to those specifications.”
For more details
Contact
Matthew Palmer
SA Food Centre
p +61 8 8226 1919
e palmer.matthew2@saugov.sa.gov.au