What is the demand for farmed fish on the European market?

This paper analyses what are the potential outlets on European markets for new farmed fish. In the first part, the main striking features about the structure and evolution of the European fish trade over the last decade are presented. The analysis of fish imports and exports provides comprehensive data to characterize the EU fish demand per commodity categories, per species groups, per country, and to estimate price trends for both wild and farmed fish imports. Then, the second part is dedicated to an in-depth analysis of the fresh fish trade, as main outlet for farmed fish. The evolution of the balance trade for the main species groups showing a deficit (salmon, gadoids, other demersal fish, completed by an analysis of the price segmentation of fish imports, highlight the substitution phenomena between farmed and wild fish which occurred over the last decade, while providing an assessment of the fish demand for the different market segments. These results are utilized to analyse the potential outlets on European markets for new farmed species issued from an aquaculture diversification, taking into account the increasing competition from well-established and concentrated fish farming industries (salmon, seabass and seabream), as well as the more recent introduction of low-priced freshwater tropical fish (ex. pangasius). A particular attention is paid to the red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), a tropical marine fish farmed in the French overseas territories. Future prospects for farmed fish diversification are also discussed as regards the consumer expectations towards image and quality attributes (including environmental).