Dutch Fish consumption remains stable

The large number of Dutch people who are fish-eaters has increased further in the past year. A total of 162.7 million kilos of fish, shellfish and crustaceans were consumed. The consumption per person thus amounts to 9.3 kilograms. This is reported by the Dutch Fish Marketing Board (Nederlands Visbureau), which commissioned research agency GfK to survey fish consumption in the Netherlands.

During the year, on which COVID-19 left a strong mark, the total fish consumption in the Netherlands decreased slightly by -3%; we are talking about whole fish (live weight). Compared to many other food categories, this seems to be a good performance', research bureau GfK states. Of all sales channels, the supermarket, fish specialty shops and online are the hard growers within fish, while the hotel and catering industry and wholesalers are hit hard in Corona times. In total, the Dutch ate 162.7 million kilos of all these 'seafood' during this period.

The fact that most Dutch people have for years regarded fish as healthy, tasty and varied has led to more people opting for fish, shellfish and crustaceans more often in the past year - a year in which people became more aware of the importance of healthy living. In addition, for many people it is more and more a habit to eat fish. 

Because of this awareness of healthy lifestyles and because the mostly 'outgoing' young people were more likely to be at home, more and more of them started to prepare fish at home last year, according to the research report.

Even though the importance of meat substitutes is growing, this is not at the expense of fish. For the time being, shoppers are switching from meat to these alternative products, as well as chicken and fish. Fish buyers themselves do not switch.

At times when people were able to eat fish outside their homes, sole appears to be at the top of the list of fish species chosen, followed by plaice, cod and mussels.

When the Dutch bought their fish for the home, almost sixty percent of their total spending came from fresh fish, shellfish and crustaceans, while frozen and canned fish accounted for the remaining forty percent. This fresh segment is growing steadily year-on-year, with two-person households being particularly responsible. Looking at smoked fish within the fresh segment, eel has the strongest increase in turnover (no less than 40%). 

Sometimes comparisons with other countries on fish consumption show a 'cut-up picture': by calculating fish consumption in kilograms of live weight, fish consumption in neighbouring countries appears much higher. In the Netherlands, people consumed 9.3 kilos of fish, shellfish and crustaceans per person last year; this relates to dead weight (i.e. clean for consumption). When this is converted via conversion tables to live weight, the Dutchman ate 20 kilos per person. The average for all EU countries is around 24 kg.