(vasep.com.vn) France is the biggest market for surimi in Europe but the market saw a little downturn in 2012 when surimi consumption reached 60,500 MT, down 4 percent from 2011.
The drop was "mostly weather-dependent," with a "very bad summer" pushing down consumption.
Despite that, in 2012 nearly seven out of 10 households in France purchased surimi. Fresh surimi sticks accounted for 90 percent, or 50,500 MT, equivalent to an average consumption rate of 2.9 kilogram per household.
Over the past ten years, surimi consumption in France saw a stable growth each year, except for a decline observed in 2007, 2008 and 2012. During the period of 1995-2000, the consumption doubled at 28,800 MT and increased by 45 percent to 52,500 MT in 2006. In 2011, the consumption witnessed the highest growth with 63,300 MT, reporting a five-fold increase against 1995 (12,404 MT).
France is also the biggest producer of surimi in Europe, mainly using Alaskan pollock raw paste, blue and Pacific whiting. Surimi production is increasingly soaring in the country. The production was equal to 8,000 MT in 1995. The volume increased to 53,100 MT in 2010 and 53,576 MT in 2012.
In addition, France’s surimi exports gained positive results in recent years with stick surimi being exported to Belgium (28 percent), Italy (25 percent), Germany (16 percent), Spain (13 percent), Switzerland (4 percent), Sweden (4 percent), and some to the U.K, the Netherlands, Lebanon, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries.
According to Vietnam Customs, among EU, France holds the lead in importing fish paste and surimi from Vietnam. In 2012, Vietnam’s exports of these items to France rose 20 percent to US$16.3 million, accounting for nearly 60 percent of total surimi exports to EU. However, in the early 2013, surimi exports to France saw a deep dive against that of the same period of 2012. In the first 3 months of this year, total export value sharply decreased by 82.6 percent. Export value in Jan and Mar dropped 73.4 percent and 86.3 percent, respectively. In Feb, France saw no surimi imports from Vietnam.