Foreign trade in fish, 2/2021 (preliminary)

Fish and fish products were imported to Finland in February 2021 worth almost EUR 30 million; about 6.4 million kilos. Of this, 1.6 million kilos were transit imports of fresh whole salmon, which were exported directly from Finland to the rest of Europe. About half of the salmon imported to Finland remained there without travelling forward.
The value of imports decreased by almost 30 percent from the corresponding period of the previous year, the volume of imports by 12 percent. The main importing countries in terms of import value were Norway, Sweden, Poland and Mauritius. Norway imported mainly salmon and shrimp, Sweden rainbow trout and fish products and preserves. Frozen saithe and various fish products and preserves were imported from Poland, while tuna alone was imported from Mauritius. Norway accounted for 62% of imports.
In total, 97 percent of the fish imported to Finland was for human consumption. A small proportion (3%) was feed fish for animal consumption (189,000 kg). The volume of fish imported for feed increased by 12% compared to the previous February.
The main import items were fresh whole salmon (3.2 million kg) and canned fish (1.45 million kg), most of which (0.8 million kg) tuna. Other significant imports were fresh salmon and trout fillets (0.3 million kg), rainbow trout fillets (0.14 million kg) and shrimp products (0.13 million kg).
In February, more than 7 million kilos of fish and fish products were exported from Finland. Transit exports of fresh whole salmon accounted for 23% of this. In total, the value of exports in February was almost 13 million euros. The value of salmon transit exports was 57 percent of this.
In total, 95% of exported fish was for human consumption. 340,000 kilos of fish were exported as feed, which was almost 44 percent less than in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The largest exports were frozen whole Baltic herring (3.2 million kg), fresh whole salmon (1.6 million kg) and fresh whole Baltic herring (1.1 million kg). In addition, whole rainbow trout (0.3 million kg), fish waste (0.26 million kg) and fresh whole sprat (0.13 million kg) were exported.
The value of exports fell by almost a third in February compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, while the volume of exports fell by 17%. The main exporting countries in terms of export volume were Estonia, Australia, Belarus, Poland and Spain. According to the value of exports, the main countries were Estonia, Poland, Spain, Lithuania and France.