80% of Ukrainian Seafood is Imported, and the Market Size Exceeds 800 Million US Dollars

Russia's special military action against Ukraine means that European and American seafood exporters are temporarily unable to ship to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Fish and Seafood Imports Association (UIFSA) issued a statement that the Russian-Ukrainian war may cause seafood exporters to lose their business in Ukraine. Although Ukraine borders the Black Sea, 80% of its consumers' seafood is imported.

Ukraine purchases seafood from more than 60 countries around the world. Calculated by import value in 2020, the top four suppliers are Norway (27.3%), Iceland (26.4%), the United States (10.9%) and Canada (10.2%). In 2020, Ukraine imported 411,000 tons of seafood, with a total value of about $804 million.

Herring is the most imported seafood product in Ukraine, followed by mackerel, cod, Baltic herring, salmon, pollock, spiny, sardines, noto, pangasius, shrimp, blue whiting, mussels, squid, saury and plaice.

According to the US Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) statistics, in 2021 Ukraine imported 39,918 tons of seafood from the United States, worth $97.9 million, of which frozen Pacific cod accounted for 28,282 tons, worth $46.3 million.

US seafood exporter Sogda COO Alex Babadzhanov said: “Ukrainians have a tradition of eating fish, and now they are facing a huge challenge in their lives. Every Ukrainian knows what is pink salmon and what is dog salmon, and many of their traditional dishes are These ingredients are used, while other ingredient options include imported farmed salmon from Norway or Chile.”