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Trade: Romanians last in Europe for fish consumption
Romania holds a fifth of the area for fish growing in EU but obtains only 0.2% of the fish production in the community bloc, while the per capita fish consumption - 5 kg per year- half the quantity of the 1980s, is the smallest in EU, according to Romfish association.
“A person in Romania consumes an average of 5 kg per year, compared to 10 kg before 1989. Romania has now the lowest fish consumption per capita in EU, because we do not have a market developed for this segment,” said Catalin Platon, executive manager of “Romfish”, the National Association of Fish Producers.
People in Belgium consume 25 kg of fish per year, in Croatia 20 ikg, in the Czech republic - 9.5 kg, in France 35 kg, in Germany 14 kg, in Greece 20 kg, Italy 25 kg, Poland 12 kg, Spain 42 kg and Great Britain 19 kg, while the Irish consume 90 kg per year.
Romania is three times under the European level (18kg) and world level (19kg).According to Romfish, the fish market in Romania is estimated at 350 million euros per year.“Fish varieties in demand are sea fish- mackerel, herring, sprout and cod - and sweet water fish - trout, carp, crucian and pike perch. There is great interest in sea eggs and smoked fish, live fish or processed fish,”Platon said.
He added that fish growing in Romania is the only sector in agriculture which has not received any subsidies.“The pressure of higher costs has been shared between producers and consumers. Fish production price in Romania is significantly higher than the one produced by neighbour countries comparable for structure of fish culture development,” he added
The main cities where fish is consumed in Romania are Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj, Constanta and Brasov.
The big problem of the sector is the chaotic and unpredictable fiscal regime: VAT of 24% has doubled fiscal evasion, while taxes on special constructions have blocked investment activities and dam repairs.
Another problem, Romfish shows, is fish theft which is not punished as it should.
“If someone is caught stealing 100kg of fish from a farm, he gets a fine but if a farmer is caught selling 10kg without documents he is sent to jail for fiscal evasion.”
There are 500 fish exploitations but there are only 4,103 commercial fishermen authorised for inner waters, the Danube Delta included and 633 fishermen authorized for the Black Sea.
There are 21 fish processing companies and there are no data about importers.