Foreign trade in fish, 5/2021 (preliminary)

Fish and fish products were imported to Finland in May 2021 worth approximately EUR 35 million; about 6.6 million kilos. Of this, 0.3 million kilos were transit imports of fresh whole salmon, where salmon was exported to other parts of Europe via Finland. In May, 2.4 million kilos of salmon imported to Finland remained in the country.
The value of imports decreased by 5% from the corresponding period of the previous year, while the volume of imports decreased by almost a quarter. The main importing countries in terms of import value were Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Poland. Norway imported mainly salmon (whole and fillet), fish waste and shrimp products, Sweden herring and fish products and preserves. Rainbow trout were imported from Denmark and various fish products and preserves, as well as frozen saithe, from Poland. Norway accounted for 62% of imports.
91% of the fish imported in May was food fish. About 9% were feed fish for animal consumption (574,000 kg). The amount of feed fish in May was only about half of what was imported at the same time last year.
The most important import items were fresh whole salmon (2.7 million kg) and canned tuna (0.8 million kg), as well as other canned fish (0.5 million kg).
In May, about 3.9 million kilos of fish and fish products were exported from Finland. Transit exports of fresh whole salmon accounted for 7% of this. In total, the value of exports in May was about 4.7 million euros.
In May, 87 percent of exported fish were food fish. 518,000 kilos of fish were exported as feed, which was about half of the corresponding year's exports of feed fish at the same time.
The largest exports were frozen whole herring (1.3 million kg), fresh whole herring (1.2 million kg) and fish waste (0.4 million kg).
The value of exports fell by almost 70% in May compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, while the volume of exports fell by about 60% at the same time. The main exporting countries in terms of export value were Estonia, Belarus, Sweden and Russia. According to the volume of exports, the main countries were Estonia, Belarus, Croatia and Ukraine.