Ceará expects to export fish to the EU this year

Brazil’s Secretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture is hopeful that the country will start exporting fish to the European Union by the end of this year. If shipments to the bloc resume, that will increase the state’s fish export volume by 20%. Brazil stopped shipping fish to the EU in January last year due to the failure of the Brazilian government to meet the bloc’s import requirements.

Ceará’s exports of fish and crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates reached 6,700 tons in 2018, up 14.2% year-on-year, according to Secex data. Exports from the state fetched US$62.5m in revenues, the second largest in Brazil. The State of Pará exported US$62.8m worth of the commodity, equivalent to 8,300 tons. Of the total amount of fish exported from Brazil, Ceará contributed 25% of the volume.

The main destinations of the exports from Ceará were the United States (US$34.7m), China (US$7m), Guatemala (US$4.9m), Australia (US$4.6m), and Taiwan (US$3.8m). However, fish exports suffered due to a shortage of reefer containers in the last week of 2018, according to Sindfrio. The state also loses about 25% fish production due to illegal fishing, equivalent to a loss of RS$40m a year.

The following DataLiner graph compares the fish exports of Ceará and Pará’s major terminals since 2009:

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