The European Commission has adopted its annual proposal on next year’s guide prices for fresh and frozen fisheries products as well as the EU producer price for tuna for processing. The Commission proposes to decrease guide prices for white fish and crustacean species, by between –1 % and –6 %. The current economic crisis is strongly affecting consumer demand for fisheries products in the EU. The decrease in demand has resulted in dramatic drops in first-sale prices in the first half of 2009, in particular for whitefish and crustacean species. On the other hand, the recent price evolution for pelagic species and frozen products has been less negative. For pelagic species there are increases for sardines and albacore (between 1 % and 3 %) but decreases for herring, mackerel, Spanish mackerel and anchovies (between –1 % and –4 %). For frozen products, the Commission proposes upward adjustments of between 1 % and 2 % for hake and prawns and decreases of between –1 % and –4 % for Greenland halibut, sea bream, cuttlefish, octopus and squids. Finally, the Commission proposes to decrease the EU producer price for yellowfin tuna by -4 % in the light of the recent deterioration of the market for this product. The Commission proposals are based on Member States’ average market prices over the previous three years. Other important factors also taken into account include trends in production and market demand, the interests of consumers and the need to avoid withdrawals of fisheries products from the market.
