How much seafood does the U.S. import? The estimated amount of seafood imported into the U.S. is 62-65%. It means that 35-38% of seafood consumed in the U.S. are produced domestically.
As it stands, the U.S. imports most seafood products consumed in their territory. It means some wild-caught or farm-raised products were raised outside the U.S. territory.
The U.S. commercial fishing and aquaculture could not sustainably produce enough seafood that U.S. consumers demand due to a lack of raw materials and labor, increased demand, and overfishing.
This article explores whether 90% of seafood in the U.S. is imported and all that you need to know about how much seafood does the U.S. imports. Click here to read about seafood vs. shellfish.
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Does The U.S. Import 90% Of Its Seafood?
Does the U.S. import 90% of its seafood? No, the statistics that “90% of seafood consumed in the United States is imported” was wrongly cited.
Several farm-raised and wild-caught seafood in the United States were sent overseas for processing as they were exported to China.
However, researchers Jessica Gephart, Halley Froehlich, and Trevor Branch argue that this figure is misleading, assuming that all imports consist solely of foreign-caught fish.
There are misunderstandings about the U.S.’s dependence on imported seafood and the necessity of boosting domestic production due to the overestimation of the country’s seafood deficit.
The domestic seafood business in the United States is booming, with a sizable proportion of the domestically captured or domestically farmed seafood being processed abroad.
This industry may fully comprehend seafood consumption in the United States and make knowledgeable judgments about future production and trade regulations by appropriately accounting for this domestic seafood.
For example, pink salmon is primarily caught in Alaska but is often processed in China before being shipped back to the U.S. for sale.
Due to trade codes, this salmon is recorded as imported or foreign seafood, leading to an overestimation of the so-called ‘seafood trade deficit’ in the U.S.
It is approximately 65% of imported seafood consumption in the U.S. The remaining 35–38% are native fish processed abroad but eaten domestically.
Averaging a total output volume of 5.49 million tonnes over three years, the US was the world’s greatest seafood producer among developed nations in 2013–15.
Additionally, the U.S. ranked fourth in terms of value for both seafood imports and exports in 2016. In the last 20 years, U.S. imports have tripled in value, reaching $20.16 billion in 2016.
How Much Seafood Is Consumed In The U.S.?
How much seafood is consumed in the United states? As the Centers for Disease Control reported, barely 20% of Americans consumed the recommended two servings of seafood weekly.
As seafood is a crucial part of the diet and a significant source of protein for many households.
The report from National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), states that per capita seafood intake hit a record high of 19.2 pounds per person in 2019 and is typically greater among older age groups and men.
Seafood is increasingly in demand, and most of the consumed seafood in the U.S. is imported from other nations this is the main reason to know how much seafood does the U.S import?
As a result, the cost of seafood has increased, making imported seafood more alluring to American consumers.
Seafood importation is also important in the American economy’s processing, retail, and food service industries.
The macroeconomic performance of the U.S. is greatly impacted by imported seafood, which generates over $70 billion in industry production, $37 billion in total value added, and $24 billion in labor income.
Additionally, it sustains roughly 512,000 full- and part-time jobs across the U.S. economy. However, it’s unclear how the United States imports sustainable fish.
Ensure that it is carried out without endangering the environment or the means of subsistence for fishing communities in the countries of origin.
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Where Does The U.S. Import Most Seafood From?
Where does the U.S. import most seafood from? There are a lot of countries where the U.S. import most of its seafood.
U.S. import seafood data and market research reports show U.S. top 10 seafood import countries; China (USD 457.1 billion), Mexico (USD 328.8 billion), Canada (USD 277.3 billion), Japan (USD 122.4 billion), Germany (USD 117.4 billion), Vietnam (USD 83.2 billion), South Korea (USD 78.3 billion), Switzerland (USD 75.5 billion), Ireland (USD 65.7 billion) and Taipei, Chinese (USD 62.4 billion).
Vietnam exports seafood to the U.S., but in the third quarter of 2021, exports from Vietnam to the United States slowed.
However, they maintained a growing trend in 2021 compared to 2020 by 5.7%. The main species the U.S. import from Vietnam is shrimp at the end of September 2021.
The U.S. imported seafood is about 1.45 billion dollars, 24% more than in the same period of the year 2020.
Hence, the main species are shrimp, pangasius, and tuna, with 53%, 17%, and 15.6% of total seafood exports to this market.
In the balance of the year, the first nine months of 2021 represent a 22% increase in Shrimp exports with 775 million dollars and placing the U.S. market at the top of the markets for this species for Vietnam since it absorbs 28% of the sales.
About pangasius, exports reached 248 million dollars, 43% more, mainly in frozen fillets/portion format, and places the United States behind China in imports of Vietnamese pangasius, with 23% of the export value.
In the case of tuna, the United States is the main importer, with 43.5% of exports Vietnamese of this species and reached 226 million dollars, 8% more than in the same period last year.
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Who Are The Largest U.S. Seafood Suppliers?
Who are the largest U.S. seafood suppliers? The largest global seafood suppliers in the United States are:
- Marubeni America
The company’s food division sells mainly to consumers in the United States, with a considerable 6% share of the wholesale shrimp market in the U.S.
- Nippon Suisan Kaisha
Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui) is a Japanese seafood company specializing in fishing, available seafood, frozen food, fine chemicals in the United States, and more.
- Mowi (Marine Harvest)
The company operates in North America with a prominent 25 to 30% global salmon and trout market share.
- Thai Union Group
Thai Union Group operates in over 10 countries, from the United States to Norway. Their seafood products include tuna, shrimp, sardines, mackerel, salmon, and pet foods.
- Dongwon Enterprise
Specializing in processed food products in the United States, some of the company’s most prominent products are seafood, processed meat, dairy, frozen food, and fast food.
- Trident Seafoods
Trident Seafoods is a seafood company that operates fishing ships and processing plants and distributes frozen, canned, smoked, and ready-to-eat seafood products in the U.S.
- Cooke Aquaculture Inc.
Cooke Aquaculture is a Canadian seafood company with several salmon and seabass farming operations across the United States.
- Red Chamber
They supply varieties and quantity of fish to the market, including shrimp, catfish, cod, haddock, swordfish, halibut, perch, pollock, salmon, scallops, mussels, and squid, as the largest seafood supplier in the United States.
- Cargill Aqua Nutrition
Cargill Aqua Nutrition is a bar specializing in Salmon, Tilapia, and Shrimp. It catches its staple wild fish across North and South America and Asia.
How Big Is Seafood Market In the U.S.?
How big is the seafood market in the U.S.? The seafood markets sector will have a $4.2 billion market in 2023, as measured by revenue.
Between 2018 and 2023, the U.S. seafood markets’ market size increased by 3.4% yearly. In 2023, the seafood segment can generate US$28.09 billion in revenue.
The market is anticipated to expand by 2.95% yearly. (CAGR 2023-2027). In 2023, per-person revenues of US$83.44 are produced based on population statistics.
By 2027, volume in the seafood sector is anticipated to reach 1.07 billion kg. By volume, the U.S. seafood market trend is anticipated to increase by 1.9% in 2024.
The average volume per person in the seafood category was anticipated to reach 3.05kg in 2023. In the U.S., the retail trade sector had faster market growth than the seafood markets business.
According to market size, the seafood markets sector in the U.S. is the 628th largest in the country.
It is rated 59th in the Retail Trade sector. Demand for the products sold by fish and seafood markets grows as people increase their total diet of fish and shellfish.
Tuna, salmon, lobster, and shrimp are just a few of the seafood products often sold in seafood markets. Products from edible fish, crabs, mollusks, and other seafood are included in the seafood section.
The section is divided into 3 distinct subsegments:
- The Fresh Seafood category includes all varieties of fresh shellfish, chilled or frozen, that have been farmed or harvested from freshwater or the ocean.
- The Fresh Fish segment includes all varieties of edible fish that are fresh, chilled, or frozen.
- All varieties of fish and seafood that have been dried, salted, brined, canned, or smoked fall under the category of processed fish and seafood.
U S Seafood Imports By Country
Here are the countries participating in the U.S. seafood imports by country statistics for February 2023:
| United States Imports by Country | Last | Previous | |
| European Union | 43267.59 | 47301.75 | USD Million |
| Euro Area | 37734.87 | 41679.04 | USD Million |
| Mexico | 35681.47 | 36987.56 | USD Million |
| Canada | 32246.04 | 34459.84 | USD Million |
| China | 30620.62 | 38252.86 | USD Million |
| Germany | 12363.74 | 13506.27 | USD Million |
| Japan | 11313.47 | 11027.88 | USD Million |
| South Korea | 8352.07 | 8875.30 | USD Million |
| Vietnam | 8311.30 | 9227.28 | USD Million |
| Taiwan | 6601.33 | 6682.41 | USD Million |
| India | 6282.04 | 7922.57 | USD Million |
| Ireland | 5303.47 | 6134.67 | USD Million |
| United Kingdom | 5268.80 | 4534.97 | USD Million |
| Italy | 5070.26 | 5863.63 | USD Million |
| France | 4162.92 | 4757.59 | USD Million |
| Switzerland | 4076.90 | 4658.93 | USD Million |
| Netherlands | 3968.77 | 3133.26 | USD Million |
| Thailand | 3867.58 | 4924.16 | USD Million |
| Malaysia | 3598.80 | 3937.52 | USD Million |
| Singapore | 2784.60 | 2934.00 | USD Million |
| Brazil | 2564.97 | 3108.60 | USD Million |
| Indonesia | 2165.95 | 2696.16 | USD Million |
| Spain | 1592.23 | 1868.72 | USD Million |
| Austria | 1553.32 | 1735.88 | USD Million |
| Belgium | 1543.04 | 1955.54 | USD Million |
| Israel | 1498.35 | 1868.06 | USD Million |
| Chile | 1432.91 | 1298.31 | USD Million |
| Sweden | 1412.66 | 1512.08 | USD Million |
| Saudi Arabia | 1386.02 | 1479.57 | USD Million |
| Colombia | 1293.23 | 1243.07 | USD Million |
| Turkey | 1163.12 | 1385.66 | USD Million |
| Poland | 1108.06 | 1036.93 | USD Million |
| Australia | 1081.56 | 1305.02 | USD Million |
| Hungary | 968.26 | 655.05 | USD Million |
| Philippines | 967.03 | 1075.53 | USD Million |
| Denmark | 940.35 | 1310.74 | USD Million |
| South Africa | 858.84 | 1068.38 | USD Million |
| Iraq | 846.36 | 815.74 | USD Million |
| Costa Rica | 839.07 | 728.01 | USD Million |
| Cambodia | 719.86 | 913.31 | USD Million |
| Peru | 697.43 | 979.34 | USD Million |
| Ecuador | 689.79 | 889.41 | USD Million |
| Bangladesh | 672.07 | 967.81 | USD Million |
| Russia | 642.83 | 508.60 | USD Million |
| Finland | 616.93 | 677.80 | USD Million |
| Czech Republic | 569.73 | 604.91 | USD Million |
| Slovakia | 562.67 | 594.86 | USD Million |
| Dominican Republic | 546.32 | 457.75 | USD Million |
| Argentina | 519.92 | 583.94 | USD Million |
| Nigeria | 492.19 | 725.20 | USD Million |
| Honduras | 483.19 | 348.14 | USD Million |
| Norway | 479.56 | 532.48 | USD Million |
| Portugal | 411.54 | 494.62 | USD Million |
What Percentage Of U.S. Shrimp Seafood Is Imported?
What percentage of U.S. shrimp seafood is imported? Shrimp imports into the U.S. have climbed by 37.5% per six months from 2020 to 323,613 metrics (713 million pounds) in 2023.
The species that are most frequently imported is shrimp. In 2016, the U.S. ranked as the top global shrimp importer, with imports totaling 603,986 tonnes, a 3.1% increase from the previous year.
Shrimp imports to the U.S. in 2019 were more than $6 billion, or 27% of all seafood imports. With 19% of all seafood imports, salmon is the second-largest import category by value.
While imported tuna, crab, and whitefish total $2 billion (9%), imported crab, crabmeat, and lobster are worth roughly $4 billion (16%).
The “Other” group, including other edible and inedible seafood, accounts for a sizable fraction.
India accounted for 38 percent of all shrimp imports into the U.S. by volume, and South America accounted for 30 percent.
Vietnam, Mexico, and other producers had to compete for the leftovers because Indonesia came in third place with 18%.
While shipments from Ecuador grew by 13% and came close to 100,000 metric tons, imports of Indian shrimp into the U.S. increased by over 120,000 metric tons, or 1%, over the same period last year.
Vietnam experienced the greatest growth, with U.S. imports rising by 13% during the first half of 2021, although starting from a much lower base.
Imports total more than $3 billion (€2.94 billion) in value, up nearly 54 percent since 2020.
A record 1.65 billion pounds of shrimp were imported into the U.S. in 2020, a 6.8% increase over the 1.54 billion pounds imported in 2019.
Following China, the United States is the second-largest consumer of shrimp.
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Where Does The U S Import Shrimp Seafood From?
Where does the U S import shrimp seafood from? Most shrimp seafood imported into the United States comes from Latin American and South Asian nations.
The Netherlands-based firm discovered that in 2021, India continued to be by far the biggest exporter of shrimp to the United States, with a significant edge in peeled and other value-added items.
According to Shrimp Insights, peeled shrimp is the most popular product in the United States.
Imports from this category increased by two-thirds between 2019 and 2021, from 305,783 MT to 416,433 MT, accounting for most of the rise in U.S. shrimp imports overall.
India received most of those exports, sending 235,943 MT of goods, accounting for 57 percent of all U.S. imports.
Ecuador came in a distant second place with 74,131 MT, followed by Indonesia with 52,408 MT. Most people in the U.S. choose different kinds of meat over fish.
Today, shrimp are used in a wide range of dishes, including shrimp cocktails, seafood gumbo, noodle soups, and dumplings.
India remains the top supplier, with 33 percent and 36 percent of all U.S. imports in the bigger mid-size categories (21/25 and 26/30).
Still, its market share is declining as Ecuador and Indonesia increase production. According to the 21/25 count, India’s exports decreased from 35,298 MT in 2019 to 19,612 MT in 2021.
Ecuador’s exports in that category went from 3,408 MT to 15,158 MT throughout the same time frame.
Indonesia’s exports in the 21/25-count category increased from 10,194 MT to 15,072 MT.
Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam accounted for 66% of under-15-inch shrimp and 80% of 15- to 20-inch shrimp sold in the United States in the largest-size categories.
Indonesia surpassed India as the top supplier of the largest-sized shrimp, accounting for 21% and 34% of these imports, respectively.
What Is America’s Most Eaten Seafood?
America’s Most Eaten Seafood Products with Rank are:
| Rank/S.N. | Type of Seafood | Per capita U.S. Eaten seafood/per year (in lbs) |
| 1 | Shrimp Seafood | 4.00 |
| 2 | Salmon | 2.30 |
| 3 | Tuna | 2.30 |
| 4 | Tilapia | 1.40 |
| 5 | Alaska Pollock | 0.98 |
| 6 | Pangasius (Basa or Swai) | 0.69 |
| 7 | Cod | 0.65 |
| 8 | Catfish | 0.52 |
| 9 | Crab | 0.51 |
| 10 | Clams | 0.34 |
Shrimp, which can be raised on farms or taken in the wild, is the most popular type of seafood consumed in the U.S.
Important minerals like calcium, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and iodine are abundant in this crustacean.
It can be cooked in several ways, including baking, boiling, frying, or grilling. Gumbo, prawn cocktails, and shrimp creole are popular shrimp meals.
Shrimp consumption climbed by 4.5% to 4.6 pounds per person in 2018, exceeding the 0.6% growth in overall seafood consumption.
Salmon and tuna are equally popular as the second most commonly consumed seafood in the U.S. They are often used in simple sandwiches and salads.
The tuna sold in the U.S. include Albacore, Yellowfin, Skipjack, and Southern Bluefin. In 2018, salmon consumption increased by 5.8% to 2.55 pounds per capita, while canned tuna remained at 2.1 pounds per capita.
The remaining top edible seafood in the U.S. include tilapia, Alaska pollock, pangasius, cod, and catfish.
Tilapia is also known as St. Peter’s Fish and is believed by some scholars to have been the fish used by Jesus to feed a gathering at the Sea of Galilee.
Alaska pollock are commonly used in fish sticks and imitation crabmeat products. At the same time, pangasius, which includes Basa and Swai species, is often imported from Asia.
Atlantic and Pacific cod species are available to U.S. consumers. Catfish, a southern U.S. native, accounts for 86% of the country’s per capita seafood consumption.
Conclusion
Now you can anwser the question how much seafood does the U.S. import? Meanwhile, you know that seafood comprises all forms of aquatic animals used as food for humans and animals.
This article also acquainted you that the U.S. economy imports froze pollock block that is further processed in the U.S. and used as an ingredient for human and animal food products.
Imported live seafood enters the U.S. as a product that is essentially “ready to sell” and eat.
All these unravel the truth of how much seafood does the U.S. import? It therefore, canceled the myths that the U.S. imports 90% of seafood.
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