Trade Tracker Top origins for U.S. seafood imports Year in review
Seafood imports outweigh exports 3:1
R eviewing the
amount of sea- food
imports
and exports, we con- tinue to see a negative trade balance, to the tune of negative $5.7 billion as of the third quarter of this year. Over the first three
quarters of 2012, the United States im- ported $9.5 billion worth of seafood and exported $3.8 billion. Viewed from another perspective,
seafood
accounts for 11.5 per- cent of all food im- ports into the United States and 4.3 percent of
all food exports.
Seafood imports, by dollar value, have in- creased
2.2 percent
compared to last year, while seafood exports have increased a mere 0.3 percent in value. On the import side,
shrimp and prawns hold the No. 1 spot
as the top import for the first three quarters of 2012, followed by crab and tilapia, re- spectively. About 18 percent of all seafood imports come from Canada, even though imports are down 3.3 percent from last year. Seafood imports from Chile have increased 17 percent, while im- ports
from Tailand
have decreased by 21 percent since last year. U.S.
seafood ex-
ports consist mostly of frozen fish and fish meat, followed by lobster and cod. China is the larg- est importer of U.S. seafood, followed by Canada and Japan. Exports to South
Korea have increased by nearly 20 percent since last year, however exports to multiple Eu- ropean Union coun- tries have declined.
Indonesia Thailand China Canada
Ecuador Vietnam Chile
Norway Mexico India
$500 million
$1 billion Top destinations for U.S. seafood exports
Korea, South Japan Canada China
Netherlands Germany
France
Hong Kong Spain
Italy
$200 million
$400 million
$600 million
Q1-Q3 2012 Q1-Q3 2011
$800 million
$1 billion
Q1-Q3 2012 Q1-Q3 2011
$1.5 billion
$2 billion
33%
33%
Zepol Corporation is a Minnesota-based company working to provide the most complete and up-to-date U.S. trade data through our subscription tools. TradeIQ™ is a U.S. Customs import Bill of Lading database utilized to find information about competitors, suppliers, prospects, and the products that they use, market, or transport. TradeView™ provides U.S. Census data to visualize the U.S. import and export market. ComplianceMonitor™ is a comprehensive tool that proactively alerts users of essential U.S. import trade compliance information. For more information visit www.zepol.com.
Overview of seafood imports and exports, in millions of dollars $3,500 $2,500 $1,500 $500 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter
IMPORTS 2010
2012 2011
EXPORTS
2012 2011 2010
18 SeaFood Business December 2012
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