Salmon surpasses shrimp as top US retail seafood

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November 22, 2012, 4:32 pm
Undercurrent News

Salmon has surpassed shrimp for the first time as the most consumed seafood in US retail in terms of volume, said a presentation by Marine Harvest.

So far this year salmon accounts for 23% of seafood retail sales, compared to 16% for shrimp, the presentation said, citing data from the Norwegian Seafood Council and Fresh Look Inc.

In total the pink fish accounted for 7% of protein sold, it said.

The next biggest items by volume after salmon and shrimp are crab (12%), tilapia (9%), catfish (8%), lobster (7%), cod (4%) and clam (3%).

A spokesperson for NSC said the data was based on US retail market research by Fresh Look for the first three quarters of the year.

Marine Harvest highlighted the growth of salmon sales in the US: the US consumed 81,300 metric tons of salmon in the third quarter of 2012, up 15% from the previous quarter and 23% from a year ago, it said.

However, when taking into consideration the foodservice segment, shrimp is likely to still be the market leader.

Figures from the US National Fisheries Institute show Americans ate an average of 4.2 pounds of shrimp per person in 2011 – far ahead of tuna (2.6) and salmon (1.9). The NFI told Undercurrent News it did not have 2012 data.

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