The Global Canned Seafood Market is estimated to grow at an 8 per cent CAGR and reach nearly USD 50 billion by 2028, according to Global Canned Seafood Market Report 2022.
Canned fish is becoming more popular among both homes and commercial end users, because of greater health awareness, increased demand for processed and convenient foods and developments in production technology.
According to the survey, consumer demand for safe, nutrient-balanced, and convenient food items has increased in recent years. These developments are increasing the demand for fishery products, putting global fisheries resources at risk and threatening the populations of many fish species.
The by-products of fish enterprises or low-value fish species that are technologically upgraded and transformed into items with high nutritional value will assist to suit current customer tastes, while also promoting more sustainable management of marine resources. As a result, the canned seafood market is expanding.
According to the research, the foundation of the frozen and processed fish business is cold chain management, which necessitates industry-specific knowledge, technological know-how, and financial commitment.
As per the report, ready-to-eat (RTE) fish items are only available in modern retail outlet chains and not in mass retail outlets, owing to cold-chain management limits.
Furthermore, because RTE fish is still a relatively new product at most locations, there is limited customer knowledge, resulting in high retail costs. According to the analysis, this is having a detrimental influence on the canned seafood market.
The 2023 Wholesale Sales of Fish and Seafood, Excluding Canned and Frozen Fish and Seafood Global Market Size & Growth Report examines market size, revenue, growth, and share in four global regions (the Americas, Europe, Asia & Oceania, Africa & Middle East), 22 subregions, and 216 countries.
According to Research and Markets’ 2023 Fish and Seafood Wholesale Global Market Size & Growth Report, figures are from 2014 to 2022, with predictions for 2023 and 2027.
“India is the third-largest fish producing country in the world with a production of 9.6 million MT. The fisheries and seafood industry accounts for 7.96 per cent of the total fish production across the globe,” said Mathew Joseph, COO & Co-founder, FreshToHome.
More than 20 million fishermen and fish farmers are primarily dependent on this sector for a source of livelihood. “However, lack of basic infrastructure and sustained efforts to revive the sector has hindered its growth, and exports have been the worst hit,” he added.
According to Joseph, some of the key challenges faced by the industry are:
- Lack of fund allocation for the development of the sector
- Lack of robust infrastructure solutions for efficient use of resources
- Inadequate efforts to revive aquaculture
- Lack of modern amenities in wet markets
- Lack of access to modern equipment and tools to fish farmers.
The industry expects from the Union Budget 2023-24 that it should make allocations to promote aquaculture. “Today, aquaculture in India is being practised in traditional methods, and hence, there is limited production of produce like Shrimp and Baasa, although there is huge demand for these varieties of fish in the global markets,” Joseph stated. India exports about Rs 45,000 crore worth fish and fish products annually and about 60 per cent of this revenue comes from shrimp alone. “About 90 per cent of the shrimp production in India takes place in just 2 states – Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Despite availability of land and resources, we are unable to increase shrimp production in other states. There must be budget allocations to set up modern aquaculture practices across the country,” he added.
Budget allocation to build modern infrastructure solutions in wet markets:
The budget should make allocations to build cold chain facilities in wet markets to reduce wastage, as per FreshToHome COO. “Setting up of chillers, freezers, and facilities to store fish in organic methods in wet markets will reduce the burden on the fishermen community,” he said.
Further he said that this will directly yield larger profits to the fishermen. This is an urgent need of the community and is fundamental to the growth of the industry.
