UK seafood imports top £4.1bn as out-of-home value rises 19.6%

By Marcus Bennett

The UK imported an estimated £4.1 billion of seafood in 2025, passing £4 billion for the first time. Volume reached 1.18 million tonnes. Value rose 6% year over year, while volume rose 1%.

Based on those rates, average import value per tonne increased roughly 5%. That figure does not establish seafood price inflation. The report provides national totals by value and volume, plus volume by origin and species, but no matching price series with which to test that interpretation.

What is driving the import mix?

China was the UK's largest source of imported seafood by volume. China supplied 189,067 tonnes, 4% more than in the previous report. Ecuador supplied 86,410 tonnes, up 23% year over year. Tuna was the most imported species, at 235,120 tonnes.

For restaurant buyers, those volumes make concentration and species availability relevant to procurement. The report does not disclose prices paid for Chinese or Ecuadorian seafood. Without unit prices, the data cannot show whether import growth raised or reduced operators' cost of goods or drove menu prices for British hospitality businesses.

What does the domestic fleet contribute?

The UK fishing fleet landed 461,197 tonnes of fish and shellfish into UK ports in 2025, worth £883 million. Imports equaled about 2.6 times that landed tonnage.

The five largest species by landed volume were:

• Mackerel
• Herring
• Haddock
• Scallops
• Blue whiting

The fleet has 3,731 active vessels and 6,154 full-time-equivalent jobs. It generated £1.1 billion in turnover and £296 million in operating profit. That profit equals an operating margin of about 26.9% on reported turnover.

At fleet level, £1.1 billion in turnover, £296 million in operating profit and 6,154 full-time-equivalent jobs describe the domestic supply base, but the report does not show how profit divides among vessels. The report omits capital spending, debt and vessel-level costs. Free cash flow and boat-level returns remain unknown.

How large is the processing sector?

The processing sector contains 336 sites and supports 18,600 full-time-equivalent jobs. East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire account for 5,482 positions, or about 29.5% of the total.

The processing footprint therefore combines national scale with a pronounced regional employment cluster, although the report does not identify wages, output, site margins or the operating costs behind those 18,600 positions. Without those figures, processors cannot benchmark the fleet's reported margin. They also cannot quantify how labor costs feed into seafood prices.

Why did out-of-home spending rise as volume fell?

Consumers ate more than 141,000 tonnes of seafood outside the home in 2025, worth £7.7 billion. Spending value rose 19.6% from the previous year, while volume fell 2.6%.

That divergence implies spending per tonne climbed roughly 23%, based on the reported rates. It points to higher prices, a richer product mix, or both. It does not show whether restaurant covers rose or fell.

For operators, the practical question is whether menu pricing and product mix can preserve consumer spending while seafood volume contracts, a test the aggregate data can frame but cannot answer. The report provides no seafood cost of goods, wage bill, check average or outlet margin for restaurants. It also does not break out chain or independent operators, or company-operated and franchised units. Higher consumer spending therefore does not prove stronger restaurant profit.

What does the annual report establish?

The 2026 edition of Seafish's annual Seafood in Numbers report brings together data from fishing and processing, international trade and consumer spending.

Seafish's head of insights and supply chain intelligence Jennifer Robson said: “By bringing together data from across the supply chain, Seafood in Numbers helps us build a clearer picture of how the sector is performing, where changes are taking place and the factors shaping the market.”

She added: “The latest figures highlight the significant role international trade continues to play in supplying the UK with seafood, while also demonstrating the value of our domestic fishing and processing sectors.”

The quotations fit the report's broad conclusions. They do not resolve the gap between higher consumer value and restaurant profitability. The next annual edition should test whether import growth persists and whether out-of-home spending holds without a recovery in seafood volume.