Food prices have risen sharply in recent years. This development has made many consumers less interested in eating fish.
The significantly increased prices are curbing German consumers’ appetite for fish and seafood. They spent 3.7 billion euros on food retail in the first nine months, an increase of 4.3 percent, as the Fish Information Center (FIZ) in Hamburg announced. But the quantity purchased shrank by 5.5 percent compared to the previous year.
According to the information, an average of 12.13 euros was spent on one kilogram of fish product between January and September, 10.3 percent more than a year ago. According to the FIZ, the reduced purchasing quantities apply to all product groups. Accordingly, significantly fewer purchases were made of canned fish (minus 9.1 percent), smoked fish (minus 8.8 percent) and fresh fish (minus 7.1 percent).
When the FIZ presented its half-year figures in the summer, there was little hope of falling prices. International logistics costs no longer rose as much, but personnel costs rose due to the shortage of skilled workers, it was said. In addition, most fish is traded in dollars and the weakness of the euro alone accounted for 25 percent of the price increases in 2022. The marketing organization of the German fishing industry did not comment on individual fish species.
Criticism of the MSC label for shrimp fisheries
Meanwhile, the environmental organization WWF criticized the fact that the crab fishery on the German, Dutch and Danish North Sea coasts had again received the MSC label, which is intended to certify sustainable fishing. “This is met with criticism from the WWF because the crab fishery on its current scale is not compatible with the protection of the Wadden Sea national parks and it generates too much bycatch of juvenile fish and invertebrates.” It affects the credibility of the MSC that its certifications are not subject to higher standards when fishing takes place in marine protected areas. “Of course, crab fishing is part of the North Sea, but it can and must be carried out in a more environmentally friendly manner and not everywhere,” said WWF Wadden Sea expert Hans-Ulrich Rösner.
Source: Stern
