Nigeria is premier ‘third country’ destination for Irish seafood
Over 49,000 tonnes of fish were exported from Ireland to Third (non-EU) countries in 2015 according the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA). Nigeria remains the highest importer, accounting for 46% of these exports, followed by China, Cameroon, Ghana and Benin.
The data are taken from health certificates issued by the SFPA who are responsible for enforcing the State’s sea-fisheries and seafood safety laws. All consignments of fish and fish products manufactured, processed or packaged in Ireland for export to Third Countries generally must be accompanied by an SFPA health cert and contain details regarding their origin and traceability. This information is critical for providing confidence in product safety and protecting consumer health. 
Exports to Third Countries decreased during 2015 compared with 2014 (56,068 tonnes), mainly due to the closure of the Russian market. Other markets remained buoyant however, with many including Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and Benin, increasing their volume of imports.
Susan Steele, chair of the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority said that export markets in the EU and Third Countries were vital to realising the Government’s vision for Ireland’s seafood industry, as set out in Foodwise 2025.
“Robust confidence in the quality and safety of Irish seafood is of critical importance to the maintenance of existing markets and to the expansion of the growing collection of third country markets. The SFPA is committed to playing its role through verifying compliance with all seafood safety and packaging legislation while also helping to resolve any technical barriers to facilitate trade with new markets.”
Mackerel; horse mackerel; blue whiting; herring; whelk and crab remain the preferred products with herring, whelk and crab all recording a year-on-year increase. South Korea was the top non-EU market for Irish whelk while brown crab was the most popular export to China.
Nigeria was the largest export market for mackerel, horse mackerel, blue whiting and herring. Oysters and lobsters were the most popular species imported by Hong Kong, and Canada was the largest market for Irish salmon.
Frozen products make up 95% of total exports to Third Countries. The remaining five per cent comprises a large number of low volume, high value consignments of live fish.
The SFPA provides an ‘out-of hours’ service to meet the ‘just-in-time’ logistics requirements of these products. In addition to providing health certificates, the SPFA provides catch certifications that verify the legitimacy of the Irish vessel that caught the fish being exported. The SFPA also carries out all approval inspections, audits and inspections of food businesses (including vessels) in the seafood sector under service contract to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. These inspections and audits are undertaken on a risk assessed basis in order to assess compliance with national and European food safety legislation.
