(IntraFish) The crisis in the eurozone is resulting in lower prices for some species exported to countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy. A significant proportion of the UK catch is exported, particularly high value species such as megrim, monkfish, hake and shrimp.
But as the financial problems engulfing the eurozone deepen, merchants are finding it more and more difficult to sell fish there and prices for some of these species have fallen considerably.
The price of megrim for example, most of which goes to Spain, has “all but collapsed,” said Paul Trebilcock, chief executive of the Cornish Fish Producers' Organization.
He said 90 percent of his members’ megrim goes to Spain, and while prices had been volatile for the last two years or so they had now “all but collapsed."
Hake was also badly affected, but the fall there has been mitigated to some extent because the UK market has been developed.
“We are now getting somewhere around £2.50 (€3.1/$3.9) to £3 (€3.7/$4.7) per kilogram for hake, which is well down on the prices we used to get, but if we hadn’t developed the UK market prices for hake would be like megs [megrim] -- on the floor, he said.
“The biggest consumers of fish in Europe are countries like Spain, Portugal and Italy, so if we can’t sell fish there then it has to go somewhere else, which means you have a downward pressure on prices in the northern European states as well.”
He added that the uncertainty is a killer. "We need something to happen to resolve things one way or the other so that we can move on.”
Will Clark, chairman of Peterhead and Fraserburgh Fish Processors Association and the Scottish Seafood Association, said Scottish merchants were also experiencing difficulties because of the eurozone’s problems.
He said the euro was now 22 percent weaker against the pound than a year ago, which made exporting fish and seafood more difficult and resulted in fewer sales to countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece.
The problems had been offset to some extent by changing patterns of consumption in countries such as Spain.
Shortage of money meant people were eating out less in restaurants, which hit that trade, but were tending to buy more fish from supermarkets to eat at home.
This was helping to hold up prices of species such as monkfish and prawns.
“It’s swings and roundabouts but we are very reliant on exports to the eurozone countries and with all the financial turmoil we are really in uncharted waters,” he told Fishing News.
Clark said markets were “volatile and fragile."
Processors had been forced to use up funds last year when fish prices reached record highs, and now the eurozone crisis and fluctuating fish supplies caused by fishermen having to juggle their days at sea and quota leasing costs to stay viable was adding to the difficulties.