Germany: Fish sales drop as consumers pay record prices

Suppliers who sold to Germany in 2012 made a mint, FIZ said in the market report. While food prices jumped 3.4 percenton average in 2012, shoppers had to pay a lot more for fish and seafood.

Prices in retail and foodservice rose 5 percent, and consumers had to spend a premium of 12 percent over the previous year.

Reasons for the jump are higher raw material pricesand rising costs of processing, FIZ said in the report.

The consequences can be seen in the figures: average per capita annual seafood consumption dropped to 15.2 kilograms, 300 grams down from the previous year.

In comparison, global per capita seafood consumption has risen to 19.2 kilograms per year -- a new high, according tothe UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Nevertheless, sales figures jumped to a new record high of €3.3 billion ($4.4 billion), up one percent from the previous year. And this is a continuing trend, with shoppers spending 5 percent more on fish and seafood so far this year.

Alaska pollock, salmon grow, herring drops

The five top consumed species remained relatively stable, despite several shifts in market shares.

Alaska pollock is still the most consumed fish, butgained in market share from 22.1 percent in 2011 to 26 percent last year. Herring is still taking the second spot but saw its share dropping by 1 percent to 18.1 percent.

Salmon also saw a gain, by 1.2 percent to 15 percent, and the fourth and fifth spot are taken by tuna and pangasius, with a market share of 10.9 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.

Germans still prefer frozen over fresh, despite a slight drop by 1 percent to a share of 29 percent onthe back of higher prices. Canned and marinated fish remained stable at 26 percent, despite the 12 percent increase in price.

Fresh fish sales also dropped by 1 percent to a market share of 9 percent, while smoked fish saw a 2 percent rise to a share of 11 percent on slightly lower consumerprices