According to the annual census conducted among enterprises, the total output of the aquaculture industry for tuna and closed cycle species amounted to €239.2 million in 2018, an increase of 18.9% over 2017, the National Statistics Office said today.

It noted that the intermediate consumption, which comprises the main expenses incurred by the industry, increased by €27.3 million or 13.4% over that in 2017. As a result, the industry’s gross value added stood at €7.6 million.

The gross fixed capital consumption of assets held by the aquaculture industry increased by €2.2 million to a total of €4.2 million, while compensation of employees rose by €3.7 million, reaching €8.6 million.

The National Statistics Office said that, overall, the industry registered a net operating loss of €5.2 million.

The total sales of fish in volume terms amounted to 19.3 million tonnes, an increase of 22.7% over the preceding year. The marketed tonnage of tuna accounted for 89.8% of the total sales; up from an 83.5% share recorded in 2017.

The NSO also noted that this was also reflected in the tonnage of sold tuna which rose by 32.1% over the relative quantity sold a year before. In terms of value, the total marketed amount of farmed fish rose by €62.3 million or 34.5% to a total of €242.7 million.

On the expenditure side, purchases of live tuna and fingerlings amounted to €109.9 million, an increase of €8.8 million or 8.7% over 2017. This accounted for 47.5% of the entire intermediate consumption recorded by the industry.

The NSO concluded by saying that, similarly, variable production costs increased by 16.6% over 2017 as a result of higher expenses related to fish feed supplies, insurance and licences fees as well as other variable costs respectively. Moreover, further increases of 39.1% and 17.2% were registered in selling costs and overheads respectively.

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