Ornamental Fish Production and Management (1+1)

14.1.6 Western Europe market

Western Europe is the largest trade block. It imports almost 40% of world ornamental fish production. Freshwater species account for more than 90% of imports by value, the rest being marine fish, invertebrates and live rocks. Among the most popular species are neon tetra, cardinal tetra, guppy, platy, swordtail. Siamese fighting fish, angelfish, corydoras, rasbora, gouramy and loach. Imports fell from US$123.226 million in 1996 to US$107.217 million in 2000 rising slightly to US$107.767 million in 2001. The major suppliers to this market are Singapore the Czech Republic Israel and Japan. The top importing countries in 2001 were Germany (21.0%), UK (19.6%), France (19.1%), Belgium (8.8%), Italy (8.4%) and the Netherlands (7.6%). The main suppliers to the Western Europe market are Singapore, Czech Republic, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, China (Hong Kong), Sri Lanka, Thailand, USA and Brazil.