Global Chamber Dhaka in collaboration with Movementum Consultancy and Facilitation Group (MCFG) and Global Chamber Barisal virtually organized an industry meetup "Global Industry Meetup: Seafood and Fisheries". This meetup created opportunities to bring together global companies and individuals involved in the seafood industry as well as organizations that support the growth of players in the international world of seafood business. In the meetup President of Seafood Exports Buying Agents Association Bangladesh (SEBAAB) M G Mustafa, and Muhammad Shahjahan ,VP of SEBAAB shared their insight on the current seafood industry . Also Dennis Chau of Uni-Que,Thomas Kehoe Deputy Director of Agriculture Africa by Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Managing Director of Maldives Integrated Tourism Development and Co. Mohamed Raaidh , Executive Director of Global Chamber Ghana Ruby Golo, Shourav Islam, Rob Aurthers, Jatin Arora, Md. Abdul Hannan also joined the meetup.
The proportion of globally produced seafood products traded internationally is very high and growing, owing to globalization and the geographic disparity between aquaculture production and seafood demand. Because of the globalization of the seafood market, seafood from all over the world can now be found in almost any country. The global market for Seafood estimated at US$113.2 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$138.7 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 2.9% over the analysis period 2020-2027.Asia specific mainly China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US$41.2 Billion by the year 2027, while Latin America will expand at a 2.4% CAGR through the analysis period.
The seafood industry in Bangladesh is full of potential and open to possibilities. This sector employs more than 17.8 million(11% of total population) of which more than 1.4 million are women. Bangladesh ranks 5th in the world as an aquaculture producer according to FAO with the production growth of 5.25% over the last 10 years. The targeted production of Bangladesh's government was 4.55 million MT by 2020-2021. Also, there are few sector supported programmes in Bangladesh, AIN (Aquaculture Income & Nutrition) for example, funded by USAID. They are focused at 20 districts in Khulna, Barisal & Dhaka. Their aim is to improve productivity of shrimp & fish farmers through improved input, technology and policies. The opportunities for the sector lie in further product diversification & value addition, scope for enhanced training facilities, as well as better scientific awareness of the benefits and risks of seafood product consumption. With a wide diversity of aquatic life, the nutritional composition of fish varies largely according to species and the way in which they are processed and marketed.
This meetup connected companies involved in any stage of services and retail business, the fish sector investors, independent restaurant owners, seafood exporters and importers, tech companies, packers, distributors and pertinent with aquaculture research to support ecosystems and global trade related to this seafood industry.