Chilean salmon, Thai shrimp and fishmeal show noticeable year-on-year drop in February.
Japan's seafood imports during the month of February, including fishmeal, dropped 1.9 percent to 171,573 metric tons, according to the International Seafood Distribution Council.
The average unit price nudged up slightly by 1.4 percent, leading the total import value to remain unchanged from the previous year at ¥100.9 billion (€832.7 million/$1.1 billion) yen.
Yellowfin tuna (down 30.4 percent), bonito (down 57.8 percent), salmon/ trout (down 17.1 percent), and fishmeal (down 20.8 percent) saw noticeable drops compared to the previous year.
Big-eye tuna (up 18.4 percent), mackerel (up 43.4 percent), squid (up 64.5 percent), octopus (up 32.5 percent), and cooked squid (up 70.2 percent), on the other hand, saw strong growth. In the category of salmon and trout, 14,200 tons ofChilean salmon were imported, a reduction of 28 percent.
The unit price plunged 30 percent to ¥321 (€2.7/$3.4) per kilogram. Chilean frozen salmon fillets, chiefly of trout, increased 12 percent to 3,470 metric tons; the unit price was down 15 percent. The main item of shrimp marked 12,021 metric tons, up 4.4 percent.
Out of this, frozen shrimp took a share of 10,870 metric tons, with the unit price going up by 8 percent. Shrimp imported from Thailand declined 10 percent, totaling to 1,964 metric tons.
Other producing countries registered increases all across the board; India with 1,454 metric tons (15 percent), Vietnam with 1,568 metric tons (5 percent), Indonesia with 2,118 metric tons (3 percent), and China with 984 metric tons (60 percent).