Trade Data
Trade data from ABARES (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences) , is made freely available through the FRDC (Fisheries Research and Development Corporation) Trade and Market Access website, such as the image below showing the top exporting countries by value for both wild catch and aquaculture products.
https://www.frdc.com.au/services/seafood-trade-data
Recent Trade data analysis
SIAA analysis of the recent ABARES and FRDC Trade data
Current Trade Data - Comparison of 2019 vs 2020 vs 2021 (Year to Date)



The 2020 figures ended up at 92.5% of 2019 by value and 95.9% of 2019 by volume.
2020 Imports by Country - Value $AUD

Note: Thailand is Australia's largest canned fish supplier ($266 million of the $458 million in 2019).
Seafood Imports by category over the last 5 years (of published data)

Domestic vs Imports - 17 / 18 Data (Latest official data from ABARES)

All Seafood groups (Domestic and Imports) - ordered by volume
category | species | tonnes minus exports | $’000 | $/kg |
imports | prepared mostly canned tuna | 82,686 | 536,359 | 6.49 |
domestic aqua | Salmonids b | 47,762 | ||
imports | Other eg basa barramundi hoki | 46,890 | 286,533 | 6.11 |
domestic wild | Australian sardine (Mostly used as tuna bait?) | 44,302 | 27,588 | 0.62 |
domestic wild | Other fish | 23,240 | 243,897 | 6.43 |
imports | Squid and octopus | 17,061 | 114,619 | 6.72 |
imports | Prawns prep | 16,017 | 191,767 | 11.97 |
imports | Prawns | 15,717 | 210,004 | 13.36 |
domestic wild | Prawns | 13,967 | 310,273 | 14.79 |
domestic aqua | Edible oyster | 11,929 | ||
imports | Other fresh | 9,832 | 82,777 | 8.42 |
imports | Other prep | 9,583 | 77,655 | 8.10 |
domestic tuna all | Tuna | 5,901 | ||
domestic wild | Scallop | 5,730 | 23,891 | 3.92 |
imports | Hake | 5,719 | 23,067 | 4.03 |
domestic wild | Shark b | 5,585 | 27,789 | 4.98 |
imports | Smoked, dried or salted fish | 5,178 | 98,117 | 18.95 |
domestic aqua | Prawns | 4,624 | ||
domestic wild | Mullet | 4,563 | 14,333 | 3.14 |
domestic wild | Crab | 4,158 | 57,179 | 12.39 |
domestic aqua | Barramundi | 4,114 | ||
domestic aqua | Blue mussel | 3,811 | ||
domestic wild | Flathead | 3,787 | 26,000 | 6.87 |
imports | Salmonids | 3,514 | 61,496 | 17.50 |
domestic aqua | Other fish | 3,082 | 0.00 | |
imports | Scallops | 2,715 | 62,705 | 23.10 |
domestic wild | Whiting | 2,653 | 15,568 | 5.84 |
domestic wild | Squid | 2,128 | 14,729 | 6.92 |
domestic wild | Rock lobster | 1,983 | 673,113 | 63.69 |
domestic abalone all | Abalone | 1,690 | ||
imports | Mussels | 1,649 | 9,281 | 5.63 |
domestic wild | Australian salmon | 1,633 | 3,348 | 2.05 |
imports | Other | 1,513 | 19,186 | 12.69 |
domestic wild | Spanish mackerel | 1,412 | 11,211 | 7.94 |
imports | Crabs | 1,327 | 19,313 | 14.56 |
imports | Salmonids fresh | 1,291 | 19,670 | 15.23 |
domestic wild | Barramundi | 1,210 | 11,241 | 9.29 |
imports | Lobsters | 1,178 | 32,148 | 27.28 |
domestic wild | Bream | 981 | 5,371 | 5.48 |
domestic wild | Pink ling | 961 | 5,234 | 5.45 |
domestic wild | Octopus | 897 | 7,608 | 8.48 |
domestic wild | Coral trout | 876 | 28,106 | 32.10 |
imports | Tuna | 854 | 8,421 | 9.86 |
imports | Squid and octopus fresh | 788 | 5,733 | 7.28 |
domestic wild | Pipi | 775 | 7,025 | 9.06 |
imports | Mixed preparations | 617 | 8,635 | 14.00 |
imports | Mussels fresh | 588 | 5,164 | 8.77 |
domestic wild | Dories | 532 | 2,788 | 5.25 |
domestic wild | Orange roughy | 417 | 2,217 | 5.32 |
imports | Shark fresh | 391 | 2,783 | 7.11 |
imports | Crabs prep | 373 | 5,544 | 14.85 |
domestic aqua | Silver perch | 340 | ||
domestic wild | Other mollusc | 296 | 6,359 | 21.51 |
imports | Other fresh | 268 | 4,629 | 17.30 |
imports | Tuna fresh | 195 | 2,712 | 13.94 |
imports | Other fish preparations | 149 | 5,655 | 37.98 |
imports | Toothfish | 140 | 4,653 | 33.32 |
domestic wild | Gemfish | 114 | 272 | 2.39 |
imports | Swordfish fresh | 74 | 721 | 9.75 |
domestic aqua | Redclaw | 65 | ||
domestic aqua | Marron | 55 | ||
imports | Prawns fresh | 34 | 702 | 20.63 |
domestic aqua | Yabby | 29 | ||
imports | Lobster prep | 26 | 784 | 30.53 |
domestic wild | Other crustacean | - 665 | 8,969 | 19.40 |
Total | Volume | 431,302 Tonnes | ||
exports | Live fish exports | 770 | 31,573 | 41.01 |
exports | Tuna | 10,742 | 144,489 | 13.45 |
exports | Salmonids b | 5,037 | 58,914 | 11.70 |
exports | Swordfish | 496 | 7,530 | 15.17 |
exports | Whiting | 11 | 54 | 4.99 |
exports | Other fish | 14,180 | 63,516 | 4.48 |
exports | Rock lobster | 8,586 | 676,348 | 78.78 |
exports | Prawns | 7,015 | 114,448 | 16.31 |
exports | Abalone | 2,584 | 187,210 | 72.46 |
exports | Scallop | 368 | 11,970 | 32.50 |
exports | Crab | 456 | 7,710 | 16.91 |
exports | Other | 1,127 | 28,816 | 25.58 |
Total Exports | Volume | 51,371 | 1,332,576 | $,000 |
Tonnes |
Domestic Consumption - Top 12 seafood categories and Imports contribution
Category (Top 12) | Tonnes domestic consumption (tonnes) | Imports (tonnes) | Imports contribution (%) |
whitefish | 91,378 | 52,822 | 58 |
canned fish (tuna) | 82,686 | 82,686 | 100 |
salmon | 51,276 | 4,805 | 9 |
prawns | 50,326 | 31,734 | 63 |
misc | 32,403 | 24,593 | 76 |
squid | 20,086 | 17,061 | 85 |
scallop | 8,445 | 2,715 | 32 |
oily fish | 7,723 | - | - |
tuna | 6,950 | 1,049 | 15 |
mussels | 6,049 | 2,238 | 37 |
crab | 5,858 | 1,700 | 29 |
lobsters | 3,187 | 1,178 | 37 |
total | 366,366 | 222,581 | 53 |
Access the full ABARES Report for 17/18
