Abstract:
A large share of world production of aquatic
animals of around 120 million tons per year enters
international marketing channels. Since more than 90% of
this trade consists of processed products in one form or
other and in general represents products from the higher
value segments, a comparison on a quantitative basis such
as live weight equivalent is not meaningful. The increase
of total world trade in products from fisheries and
aquaculture from about US$ 8 000 million in 1976 to over
US$ 50 000 million in 1998 is very impressive and since
1993 a variable, but more or less equal sharing between
developed and developing countries can be noticed. The
economic benefit of trade in fishery products for
developing countries may be illustrated further by the net
exports achieved by them. With over US$ 16 000 million
they are higher than for meat, tea, bananas and coffee
together.
However, there is a distinct difference with
regard to countries of origin and countries of destination.
OECD countries are the principal destination of trade and
only 15% go to developing countries. (As already
indicated, the origin of exports is split between developed
and developing countries).
