(Last updated: 13 Apr 2011)

Trends and opportunities

The market

Spaniards are among the highest consumers of seafood in the world with a per capita consumption of 37.3 kg/year. Spain has a resident population of 47 million with an inbound tourist market of 50+ million tourists a year.

There is a trend to consume more frozen fish rather than fresh and more purchases are being made via the hyper and supermarkets as opposed to the traditional fish markets. Consumption via hotels, restaurants and catering (HORECO) channels also plays a significant role.

With almost 8,000km of coastline, Spain has significant fishing, aquaculture and canning industries, as well as investments throughout the world. However, the country still needs to import fish and seafood to meet local demand.

Seafood products of major importance to Spain include prawns, squid, hake, and tuna. However, there is a growing demand for premium quality specialty species and exotic value-added products such as sashimi, surimi and sushi. In 2008 Austrade ran a promotion to chefs and importers for quality grade seafood and inquiries are still being received as a result.

Australia was traditionally a volume supplier of prawns to Spain. However, in recent years this has dropped considerably as new players from the Latin American and Asian markets have emerged with lower cost products.

Austrade Madrid has recent experience in assisting Australian clients to market and export premium product and live product and can discuss your marketing strategy to access or grow the Spanish seafood market.

Marketing your products and services

Market entry

Potential exporters to Spain should investigate market tastes as these are vastly different to the Asian markets where Australian exporters generally have more direct trading experience. New products need to be carefully marketed to create consumer demand.

Due to the price sensitivity of the general consumer market, Austrade Madrid recommends targeting the high end consumer and hospitality markets with innovative value-added products.

Exporters of live products will need to carefully investigate flight times and routes in order to overcome issues with mortality rates.

A key to success in this market is the identification of an experienced importer who specialises in importing gourmet seafood and has established distribution channels.

European Seafood Exhibition (ESE) held annually in Brussels remains a key event for the Spanish market.  In addition, Conxemar in Vigo is a key national fair for canned and frozen product.

Distribution channels

Most seafood is marketed and distributed via the state-owned MERCA national food distribution network where retailers and restaurants purchase their fresh and frozen seafood.

Traditional wet markets still exist, but suppliers of quality products should concentrate their efforts on other distribution channels such as hypermarkets, Asian restaurants and wholesalers of gourmet foods.

Supermarkets often make bulk purchases of lower priced crustaceans and package or sell these under their own brand name.

Links and industry contacts

Government, business and trade resources

Mercamadrid – www.mercamadrid.es
This is the second largest seafood market in the world (after Tokyo). Current product prices are available through searching the site which is available in English language. It is not possible to visit MercaMadrid as a member of the public. Austrade can assist with visits for relevant industry delegations.

Spanish Agency for Food Safety (part of Ministry of Health) – www.aesan.msc.es/en/AESAN/web/home.shtml
Headings are in English but the site is generally in Spanish

Ministry for Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries – www.marm.es/index_en.htm

Contact details

The Australian Trade Commission – Austrade – is the Australian Government’s trade and investment development agency.

Through Austrade’s network of offices in over 50 countries, we assist Australian companies to succeed in international business, attract productive foreign direct investment into Australia and promote Australia's education sector internationally.

For more information on how Austrade can assist you, contact us on:

Australia ph: 13 28 78 | Email: info@austrade.gov.au

A list of Austrade offices (in alphabetical order of country) is also available.