Fish and fishery products trade in Brazil, 2005 to 2015: A review of available data and trends

Along the last ten years fish and fishery product trade in Brazil has been on a downward trajectory turning a profit of US$ 98.6 million in 2005 into a loss of US$ 1.25 billion by 2014. On the other hand, the country is a leading producer of grains and has the third largest animal feed industry in the world, which has added 5.5 million hectares of freshwater reservoirs and 3.5 million km2 of an exclusive marine economic zone in the same period, a sizable potential for development of the aquaculture industry. This study aims at unveiling strategies for the reduction of the deficit in the Brazilian seafood trade balance, based on critical analysis of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of imported fishery products. The fish and fishery product trade in Brazil, from 2005 to 2015, was studied considering import and export data mined from the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce databases through the Aliceweb system, and clustered as follows: processing; product species; origin; conservation; and group. The main imported products were gutted fresh fish, highest price (salmon); salted dried fish, higher price (cod); frozen fish fillets, lowest price (fish and hake). The replacement of fish imports by domestic production is not enough to enable consumers to identify the equivalence between products (technical, qualitative or organoleptic). Developing strategies for the production of fish and fishery products at competitive prices and quantities that meet consumer demand is an immediate need, and the development of the aquaculture industry a rational strategy