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World Aquaculture Production of Food Fish and Aquatic Plants, SOFIA 2020 Recap.

By
Trademodo - Kenton Liu
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AQUACULTURE FISH PRODUCTION IN REGIONS, AND BY SELECTED MAJOR PRODUCERS (82,095.1 thousand tonnes produced.)

  • Africa: 2,195.9 thousand tonnes produced, 2.67% of world production.
  • Egypt: 1,561.5 thousand tonnes produced,1.90% of world production.
  • Northern Africa, excluding Egypt: 38.0 thousand tonnes produced, 0.05% of world production.
  • Nigeria: 291.3 thousand tonnes produced, 0.35% of world production.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding Nigeria: 305.1 thousand tonnes produced, 0.37% of world production.
  • Americas: 3,799.2 thousand tonnes produced, 4.63% of world production.
  • Chile: 1,266.1 thousand tonnes produced, 1.54% of world production.
  • Rest of Latin America and the Caribbean: 1,873.6 thousand tonnes produced, 2.28% of world production.
  • North America: 4,659.6 thousand tonnes produced, 0.80% of world production.
  • Asia (– Cyprus): 72,812.2 thousand tonnes produced, 88.69% of world production.
  • China (mainland): 47,559.1 thousand tonnes produced, 57.93% of world production.
  • India: 7,066.0 thousand tonnes produced, 8.61% of world production.
  • Indonesia: 5,426.9 thousand tonnes produced, 6.61% of world production.
  • Viet Nam: 4,134.0 thousand tonnes produced, 5.04% of world production.
  • Bangladesh: 2,405.4 thousand tonnes produced, 2.93% of world production.
  • Rest of Asia: 6,220.7 thousand tonnes produced, 7.58% of world production.
  • Europe (+ Cyprus): 3,082.6 thousand tonnes produced, 3.75% of world production.
  • Norway: 1,354.9 thousand tonnes produced, 1.65% of world production.
  • European Union members: 1,364.4 thousand tonnes produced, 1.66% of world production.
  • Rest of Europe: 363.2 thousand tonnes produced, 0.44% of world production.
  • Oceania: 205.3 thousand tonnes produced, 0.25% of world production.

MAJOR SPECIES PRODUCED IN WORLD AQUACULTURE

Finfish (total 54,279.0 thousand tonnes produced.)

  1. Grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idellus: 5,704.0 thousand tonnes produced, 10.5% of world production.
  2. Silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix: 4,788.5 thousand tonnes produced, 8.8% of world production.
  3. Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus: 4,525.4 thousand tonnes produced, 8.3% of world production.
  4. Common carp, Cyprinus carpio: 4,189.5 thousand tonnes produced, 7.7% of world production.
  5. Bighead carp, Hypophthalmichthys nobilis: 3,143.7 thousand tonnes produced, 5.8% of world production.
  6. Catla, Catla catla: 3,041.3 thousand tonnes produced, 5.6% of world production.
  7. Carassius spp.: 2,772.3 thousand tonnes produced, 5.1% of world production.
  8. Freshwater fishes nei,1 Osteichthyes: 2,545.1 thousand tonnes produced, 4.7% of world production.
  9. Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar: 2,435.9 thousand tonnes produced, 4.5% of world production.
  10. Striped catfish, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus: 2,359.5 thousand tonnes produced, 4.3% of world production.
  11. Roho labeo, Labeo rohita: 2,016.8 thousand tonnes produced, 3.7% of world production.
  12. Milkfish, Chanos chanos: 1,327.2 thousand tonnes produced, 2.4% of world production.
  13. Torpedo-shaped catfishes nei, Clarias spp.: 1,245.3 thousand tonnes produced, 2.3% of world production.
  14. Tilapias nei, Oreochromis (=Tilapia) spp.: 1,030.0 thousand tonnes produced, 1.9% of world production.
  15. Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss: 1,848.1 thousand tonnes produced, 1.6% of world production.
  16. Wuchang bream, Megalobrama amblycephala: 783.5 thousand tonnes produced, 1.4% of world production.
  17. Marine fishes nei, Osteichthyes: 767.5 thousand tonnes produced, 1.4% of world production.
  18. Black carp, Mylopharyngodon piceus: 691.5 thousand tonnes produced, 1.3% of world production.
  19. Cyprinids nei, Cyprinidae: 654.1 thousand tonnes produced, 1.2% of world production.
  20. Yellow catfish, Pelteobagrus fulvidraco: 509.6 thousand tonnes produced, 0.9% of world production.
  21. Other finfishes: 8,900.2 thousand tonnes produced, 16.4% of world production.

Crustaceans (total 9,386.5 thousand tonnes produced.)

  1. Whiteleg shrimp, Penaeus vannamei: 4,966.2 thousand tonnes produced, 52.9% of world production.
  2. Red swamp crawfish, Procambarus clarkii: 1,711.3 thousand tonnes produced, 18.2% of world production.
  3. Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis: 757.0 thousand tonnes produced, 8.1% of world production.
  4. Giant tiger prawn, Penaeus monodon: 750.6 thousand tonnes produced, 8.0% of world production.
  5. Oriental river prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense: 237.1 thousand tonnes produced, 2.5% of world production.
  6. Giant river prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii: 234.4 thousand tonnes produced, 2.5% of world production.
  7. Other crustaceans: 729.9 thousand tonnes produced, 7.8% of world production.

Molluscs (total 17,510.9 thousand tonnes produced.)

  1. Cupped oysters nei, Crassostrea spp.: 5,171.1 thousand tonnes produced, 29.5% of world production.
  2. Japanese carpet shell, Ruditapes philippinarum: 4,139.2 thousand tonnes produced, 23.6% of world production.
  3. Scallops nei, Pectinidae: 1,918.0 thousand tonnes produced, 11.0% of world production.
  4. Sea mussels nei, Mytilidae: 1,205.1 thousand tonnes produced, 6.9% of world production.
  5. Marine molluscs nei, Mollusca: 1,056.4 thousand tonnes produced, 6.0% of world production.
  6. Constricted tagelus, Sinonovacula constricta: 852.9 thousand tonnes produced, 4.9% of world production.
  7. Pacific cupped oyster, Crassostrea gigas: 643.5 thousand tonnes produced, 3.7% of world production.
  8. Blood cockle, Anadara granosa: 433.4 thousand tonnes produced, 2.5% of world production.
  9. Chilean mussel, Mytilus chilensis: 365.6 thousand tonnes produced, 2.1% of world production.
  10. Other molluscs: 1,725.8 thousand tonnes produced, 9.9% of world production.

Other animals (total 918.6 thousand tonnes produced.)

  1. Chinese softshell turtle, Trionyx sinensis 320.9 thousand tonnes produced, 34.9% of world production.
  2. Japanese sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus 176.8 thousand tonnes produced, 19.2% of world production.
  3. Aquatic invertebrates nei, Invertebrata 120.9 thousand tonnes produced, 13.2% of world production.
  4. Frogs, Rana spp. 107.3 thousand tonnes produced, 11.7% of world production.
  5. Other miscellaneous animals 192.7 thousand tonnes produced, 21.0% of world production.

WORLD AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION OF AQUATIC ALGAE (total 32,386.2 thousand tonnes produced.)

  1. Japanese kelp (Laminaria japonica): 11,448.3 thousand tonnes produced.
  2. Eucheuma seaweeds nei1 (Eucheuma spp.): 9,237.5 thousand tonnes produced.
  3. Gracilaria seaweeds (Gracilaria spp.): 3,454.8 thousand tonnes produced.
  4. Wakame (Undaria pinnatifida): 320.4 thousand tonnes produced.
  5. Nori nei (Porphyra spp.): 2,017.8 thousand tonnes produced.
  6. Elkhorn sea moss (Kappaphycus alvarezii): 1,597.3 thousand tonnes produced.
  7. Brown seaweeds (Phaeophyceae): 891.5 thousand tonnes produced.
  8. Laver (Porphyra tenera): 855.0 thousand tonnes produced.
  9. Fusiform sargassum (Sargassum fusiforme): 268.7 thousand tonnes produced.
  10. Spiny eucheuma (Eucheuma denticulatum): 174.9 thousand tonnes produced.
  11. Spirulina nei (Spirulina spp.): 69.6 thousand tonnes produced.
  12. Seaweeds nei (algae): 22.5 thousand tonnes produced.
  13. Other algae: 27.8 thousand tonnes produced.

Top species of global marine captures, SOFIA 2020 recap.

By
Trademodo - Kenton Liu
-
Top species of global marine captures in 2020

Finfish (71,926 thousand tonnes harvested.)

  1. Anchoveta, Engraulis ringens: 7,045 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 10% of global marine capture.
  2. Alaska pollock, Gadus chalcogrammus: 3,397 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 5% of global marine capture.
  3. Skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis: 3,161 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 4% of global marine capture.
  4. Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus: 1,820 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 3% of global marine capture.
  5. Blue whiting, Micromesistius poutassou: 1,712 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 2% of global marine capture.
  6. European pilchard, Sardina pilchardus: 1,608 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 2% of global marine capture.
  7. Pacific chub mackerel, Scomber japonicus: 1,557 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 2% of global marine capture.
  8. Yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares: 1,458 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 2% of global marine capture.
  9. Scads nei,1 Decapterus spp.: 1,336 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 2% of global marine capture.
  10. Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua: 1,218 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 2% of global marine capture.
  11. Largehead hairtail, Trichiurus lepturus: 1,151 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 2% of global marine capture.
  12. Atlantic mackerel, Scomber scombrus: 1,047 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 1% of global marine capture.
  13. Japanese anchovy, Engraulis japonicus: 957 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 1% of global marine capture.
  14. Sardinellas nei, Sardinella spp.: 887 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 1% of global marine capture.
  15. Other – finfish: 43,572 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 61% of global marine capture.

Crustaceans (5,997 thousand tonnes harvested.)

  1. Natantian decapods nei, Natantia: 850 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 14% of global marine capture.
  2. Gazami crab, Portunus trituberculatus: 493 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 8% of global marine capture.
  3. Akiami paste shrimp, Acetes japonicus: 439 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 7% of global marine capture.
  4. Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba: 322 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 5% of global marine capture.
  5. Marine crabs nei, Brachyura: 314 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 5% of global marine capture.
  6. Blue swimming crab, Portunus pelagicus: 298 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 5% of global marine capture.
  7. Argentine red shrimp, Pleoticus muelleri: 256 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 4% of global marine capture.
  8. Southern rough shrimp, Trachypenaeus curvirostris: 248 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 4% of global marine capture.
  9. Others – crustaceans: 2,776 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 46% of global marine capture.

Molluscs (5,959 thousand tonnes harvested.)

  1. Jumbo flying squid, Dosidicus gigas: 892 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 15% of global marine capture.
  2. Marine molluscs nei, Mollusca: 664 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 11% of global marine capture.
  3. Various squids nei, Loliginidae, Ommastrephidae: 570 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 10% of global marine capture.
  4. Common squids nei, Loligo spp.: 369 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 6% of global marine capture.
  5. Cuttlefish, bobtail squids nei, Sepiidae, Sepiolidae: 348 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 6% of global marine capture.
  6. Cephalopods nei, Cephalopoda: 322 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 5% of global marine capture.
  7. Yesso scallop, Patinopecten yessoensis: 316 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 5% of global marine capture.
  8. Others – molluscs: 2,478 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 42% of global marine capture.

Other animals (531 thousand tonnes harvested.)

  1. Jellyfishes nei, Rhopilema spp.: 264 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 50% of global marine capture.
  2. Aquatic invertebrates nei, Invertebrata: 116 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 22% of global marine capture.
  3. Sea cucumbers nei, Holothuroidea: 48 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 9% of global marine capture.
  4. Chilean sea urchin, Loxechinus albus: 32 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 6% of global marine capture.
  5. Cannonball jellyfish, Stomolophus meleagris: 29 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 6% of global marine capture.
  6. Sea urchins nei, Strongylocentrotus spp.: 25 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 5% of global marine capture.
  7. Other – other animals: 16 thousand tonnes harvested in 2018, 3% of global marine capture.

Top 25 fish producing countries responsible for 80 percent of global marine capture – SOFIA 2020 recap

By
Trademodo - Paul Pan
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Top fish producing countries

Every 2 years, the UN FAO publishes important statistics everyone in the fishery and aquaculture sector should know. According to the most current UN FAO SOFIA 2020 report, the top 25 countries and territories for global marine capture produced 67.83 million tonnes of seafood, which is equivalent to 80 percent of the world total of 84.41 million tonnes in 2018. For a more detailed breakdown download refer to Table 2 of the SOFIA 2020 report. 

Please note that the countries in this list include production associated with the capture of the Peruvian anchoveta (Engraulis ringens). If anchoveta capture numbers are excluded, Peru and Chile would no longer be part of the top 25 countries for global marine capture production.

Here are the top 25 fish producing countries as of 2020:

China – 12.68 million tonnes in 2018, 15 percent of total global marine capture

Peru – 7.15 million tonnes in 2018, 8 percent of total global marine capture

Indonesia – 6.71 million tonnes in 2018, 8 percent of total global marine capture

Russian Federation – 4.84 million tonnes in 2018, 6 percent of total global marine capture

United States of America – 4.72 million tonnes in 2018, 6 percent of total global marine capture

India – 3.62 million tonnes in 2018, 4 percent of total global marine capture

Vietnam – 3.19 million tonnes in 2018, 4 percent of total global marine capture

Japan – 3.10 million tonnes in 2018, 4 percent of total global marine capture

Norway – 2.49 million tonnes in 2018, 3 percent of total global marine capture

Chile – 2.12 million tonnes in 2018, 3 percent of total global marine capture

Philippines – 1.89 million tonnes in 2018, 2 percent of total global marine capture

Thailand – 1.51 million tonnes in 2018, 2 percent of total global marine capture

Mexico – 1.47 million tonnes in 2018, 2 percent of total global marine capture

Malaysia – 1.45 million tonnes in 2018, 2 percent of total global marine capture

Morocco – 1.36 million tonnes in 2018, 2 percent of total global marine capture

Republic of Korea – 1.33 million tonnes in 2018, 2 percent of total global marine capture

Iceland – 1.26 million tonnes in 2018, 1 percent of total global marine capture

Myanmar – 1.14 million tonnes in 2018, 1 percent of total global marine capture

Mauritania – 0.95 million tonnes in 2018, 1 percent of total global marine capture

Spain – 0.92 million tonnes in 2018, 1 percent of total global marine capture

Argentina – 0.82 million tonnes in 2018, 1 percent of total global marine capture

Taiwan – 0.81 million tonnes in 2018, 1 percent of total global marine capture

Denmark – 0.79 million tonnes in 2018, 1 percent of total global marine capture

Canada – 0.78 million tonnes in 2018, 1 percent of total global marine capture

Iran – 0.72 million tonnes in 2018, 1 percent of total global marine capture

Important seafood industry statistics everyone in the fishery and aquaculture sector should know

By
Trademodo - Paul Pan
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seafood industry statistics

What is the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA)?

Every two years, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO) releases a highly anticipated report about the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA). The report provides policy-makers, academics, civil society and those whose livelihoods depend on the sector with a comprehensive, objective, and global view of capture fisheries and aquaculture.

With a new report expected to be released in mid-2022, we’re taking a moment to highlight some of the key facts and figures that were covered in the most recent 2020 SOFIA report. 

Key Seafood Facts and Figures

  • Global fish production has reached an estimated 179 million tonnes in 2018, with a first sale value of USD $401 billion.
  • 156 million tonnes of the overall total was used for human consumption in 2018, equivalent to an estimated 20.5 kg per capita.
  • 22 million tonnes of the remaining total was used for non-food uses in 2018. Non-food use primarily consisted of fishmeal and fish oil production.
  • Aquaculture production reached 82 million tonnes in 2018, with a value of USD $250 billion.
  • Aquaculture accounted for 46 percent of total production and 52 percent of production meant for human consumption.
  • Global capture fisheries production rose by 14 percent from 1990 to 2018.
  • Global aquaculture production rose by 527 percent from 1990 to 2018.
  • Total fish consumption rose by 122 percent from 1990 to 2018.
  • Fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels fell from 90 percent in 1990 to 65.8 percent in 2017.

World Seafood Production

  • Total global fish production reached 179 million tonnes in 2018 (excludes aquatic mammals, crocodiles, alligators and caimans, seaweeds and other aquatic plants)
  • Aquaculture (inlands waters) – 51 million tonnes in 2018
  • Capture fisheries (marine waters) – 84 million tonnes in 2018
  • Capture fisheries (inlands waters) – 12 million tonnes in 2018

Top 7 Producing Countries of Global Marine Capture

  • China reached 12.68 million tonnes of marine capture in 2018, equating to 15 percent of total world captures.
  • Peru reached 7.15 million tonnes of marine capture in 2018, equating to 8 percent of total world captures. If anchoveta marine capture is excluded, Peru’s production is only 0.96 million in 2018.
  • Indonesia reached 6.71 million tonnes of marine capture in 2018, equating to 8 percent of total world captures.
  • The Russian Federation reached 4.84 million tonnes of marine capture in 2018, equating to 6 percent of total world captures.
  • The United States of America reached 4.72 million tonnes of marine capture in 2018, equating to 6 percent of total world captures.
  • India reached 3.62 million tonnes of marine capture in 2018, equating to 4 percent of total world captures.
  • Vietnam reached 3.19 million tonnes of marine capture in 2018, equating to 4 percent of total world captures.
  • Over 50 percent of total world marine capture in 2018 is from the top 7 producing countries.
  • 74 percent of total world marine capture in 2018 is from the top 20 producing countries.
  • Click to see the top 25 fishing nations in 2018 responsible for 80 percent of total global marine capture.

Top 3 Marine Capture Species

  • Anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) – 7 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 10 percent of total global marine capture of finfish.
  • Alaska pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) – 3.4 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 5 percent of total global marine capture of finfish.
  • Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) – 3.2 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 4 percent of total global marine capture of finfish.
  • Special mention: Tuna and tuna-like species – 7.9 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 11 percent of total global marine capture of finfish.

World Aquaculture Production of Food Fish and Aquatic Plants

  • World aquaculture production reached 114.5 million tonnes in 2018, equating to a total farmgate sale value of USD $263.6 billion (price at farm, excluding transportation and delivery).
  • Aquatic animal production reached 82.1 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 72 percent of total aquaculture production.
  • Aquatic algae production reached 32.4 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 28 percent of total aquaculture production.
  • Ornamental seashells and pearl production reached 26,000 tonnes in 2018.
  • Inland aquaculture production reached 51.3 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 62.5 percent of total aquaculture production.

Top Aquaculture Producers of Farmed Aquatic Animals by Region

  • Asia produced 72.8 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 88.69 percent of total world farmed aquatic animal production.
  • The Americas produced 3.8 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 4.63 percent of total world farmed aquatic animal production.
  • Europe produced 3.1 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 3.75 percent of total world farmed aquatic animal production.
  • Africa produced 2.2 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 2.67 percent of total world farmed aquatic animal production.
  • Oceania produced 0.2 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 0.25 percent of total world farmed aquatic animal production.

Fishers and Farmers Across the World

  • An estimated 59.51 million people were engaged in the primary fishing and aquaculture sector in 2018.
  • 20.53 million people were working in aquaculture in 2018.
  • 38.98 million people were working in fisheries in 2018.
  • In 2018, 85 percent of fishery and aquaculture workers were in Asia.
  • Only 14 percent of workers engaged in fisheries and aquaculture were women in 2018.
  • Women working in fisheries and aquaculture are often assigned the most unstable roles, or poorly paid or unpaid positions that require lower qualifications.

The World’s Fishing Fleet

  • Fishing vessels throughout the world totalled 4.6 million in 2018.
  • There are 2.8 percent fewer fishing vessels in 2018 than 2016.
  • Asia has the largest fishing fleet with 3.1 million vessels in 2018, equating to 58 percent of the global total.
  • Motorized fishing vessels totalled 2.9 million in 2018, equating to 63% of the total fleet.

Fishery Resources – Sustainability

  • The percentage of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels decreased from 90% in 1974 to 65.8% in 2017.
  • An estimated 78.7 percent of landings originated from biologically sustainable stocks in 2017. Landings are defined as catches of marine fish brought into foreign or domestic ports.
  • Underfished stocks accounted for 6.2 percent and maximally sustainably fished stocks accounted for 59.6 percent of total number of assessed stocks

Fish Utilization and Processing

  • Fish production meant for direct human consumption reached 179 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 88 percent of total fish production.
  • Fish production meanted for non-food purposes reached 22 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 12 percent of total fish production. 
  • Fishmeal and fish oil accounted for 18 million tonnes or 80 percent of total non-food use in 2018.
  • Live, fresh or chilled fish represented 44 percent, the largest share, of fish utilized for direct human consumption in 2018.
  • Global fisheries and aquaculture wasted 35 percent of the total harvest in 2018.

Global Consumption of Seafood

  • Fish provided 3.3 billion people with nearly 20 percent of their average per capita intake of animal protein in 2018.
  • Fish accounted for 17 percent of total animal protein, and 7 percent of all proteins consumed globally in 2017.
  • The average annual growth rate of total food fish consumption increased at 3.1 percent from 1961-2017, outpacing the annual population growth rate of 1.6 percent.
  • Food fish consumption rose from 9.0 kg in 1961 to 20.3 kg in 2017.
  • Per capita fish consumption reached 20.5 kg in 2018.
  • Aquaculture accounted for a 52 percent share of fish production destined for human consumption in 2018. 

What is Driving the Increase in Seafood Production?

  • Increased production
  • Technological developments
  • Rising incomes worldwide
  • Reduction in loss and waste
  • Increased awareness of health benefits of fish

Seafood Trade and Products

  • International trade of fish and fish products reached 67 million tonnes in 2018, equating to 38 percent of all fish caught or farmed worldwide.
  • The total export value of fish and fish products reached USD $164 billion in 2018, equating to 11 percent of the export value of agricultural products (excluding forest products).
  • Exports of fish and fish products exceeded 40 percent of total value of merchandise trade in Cabo Verde, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Maldives, Seychelles, and Vanuatu in 2018.

Looking to the Future

  • Total fish production is expected to grow from 179 million in 2018 to 204 million in 2030.
  • Aquaculture is projected to reach 109 million tonnes in 2030, an increase of 26 million tonnes or 32 percent over 2018. 
  • Asia is expected to be responsible for over 89 percent of the increase in aquaculture production by 2030, continuing its dominance of the sector.
  • Africa is expected to grow the most with a 48 percent increase in aquaculture culturing capacity.
  • Prices are expected to rise in the fishery and aquaculture sector in the long term up to 2030.
  • Food fish supply will increase in all regions.
  • Per capita fish consumption in Africa is expected to decline.
  • Share of fish production destined for human consumption is expected to grow, reaching 89 percent by 2030.
  • World food fish consumption in 2030 is expected to grow by 18 percent when compared to 2018.
  • Trade in fish and fish products is expected to increase at a slower rate than in the last decade.

For more detailed information, download the 224 page SOFIA 2020 report by the UN FAO.

5 Top Tips to Improve Your B2B Marketing Copywriting and Get More Sales

By
Trademodo - Paul Pan
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B2B marketing copywriting
B2B marketing copywriting

The world of B2B business demands a vast number of skills in order to see that bottom line swell and writing effective ad copy that converts prospects into customers is at the top of the list. Writing powerful copy is an art – and mastering an art takes years but… you can speed up the learning curve with these top 5 tips for writing B2B copy. 

But first… 

What is B2B Marketing Copywriting? 

B2B Marketing Copywriting is a form of content marketing. It’s written or spoken text, commonly used in advertisements, social platforms, and marketing materials developed with the intent to gain other businesses or organizations’ interest in your company’s product or service. 

Top 5 B2B Copywriting Tips 

Potential clients viewing your content only want a few things. They desire copy that does what it says its going to do, allows them to soak in the information without consuming a lot of time, and is relevant to them and their concerns. 

80% of Viewers Read the Headline and Keep Scrolling 

Business and organization leaders don’t have much time to spend skimming the internet and reading non pertinent information. Formulate section headings to urge readers to learn more because the fact remains – 80% of viewers read the headlines and just keep scrolling. Cultivate your headlines to be both informative about the information to come, but also act as a mini call to action. 

Speaking of calls to action…  

Customized Calls to Action are 202% More Effective 

Leads that consume copy that directly speaks to their position on the buyer’s journey are exponentially more effective than copy created for generalized viewing – 202% more effective, in fact. 

If a potential B2B customer, like a supplier or service provider, is just entering the awareness stage, they are more apt to click a “Read More” call to action button on your website, and less likely to make a solid purchase since they are not in the decision phase of the journey… yet.

Lists Embedded into Copy Attract 70% More Traffic

You carry one along when going to home improvement and grocery stores. You make one when you’re packing for a long vacation. You guessed it… a list. That ultra-valuable, condensed version of crucial information that makes your life significantly easier and less stressful. Your potential leads value the same from your copy. 

Society’s attention span has diminished over the years and providing high-impact lists embedded into your copy attracts 70% more traffic than if it were solely organized in paragraph-type format. When creating long copy pieces, embed a list after every 500 words for optimal engagement. 

Guide-type Articles Get 3x more Organic Traffic 

Prospects on a quest to learn more and find pertinent information related to their needs seek out all-encompassing guide articles versus wasting time perusing 10 different websites to gather all the information. 

Not only will the instructional content provide leads with the information they need, it demonstrates the smooth and transparent process they can come to expect from doing business with your supply or service provider company. 

Spelling and Grammar in Your Content Can Make or Break Your Public Perception 

74% of readers, when polled, notice spelling and grammar mistakes which could offer the wrong impression about your supply or service provider company’s professionalism and attention to detail. No customer wants to be overlooked and they have come to expect the highest level of service. Demonstrate that standard with your copywriting as well. 

There is no excuse for spelling or grammar mistakes in your copywriting with the existence of free tools embedded into word processing platforms or free internet browser extensions for Google Chrome, Edge and others.

Conclusion

When armed with the statistical do’s and don’ts of B2B marketing copywriting, the only step left is to practice. Draft a great piece of copy for your next supply or service provider advertisement, social platform post, audio scripting, or blog post – and publish it. The key is to track that copy’s performance with your leads and adjust as needed to provide your readers exactly what they yearn for.

As the leading B2B digital marketing agency for seafood supply chain companies, Trademodo provides B2B content creation services specialized for seafood businesses looking to grow their online traffic, or be recognize for their expertise in a particular field.

What is B2B Content Marketing?

By
Trademodo - Paul Pan
-
b2b content marketing

Having valuable content helps your B2B marketing strategy by keeping your B2B prospects and customers informed. Useful content helps businesses make better decisions, and 80% of B2B decision-makers even prefer to get their information through a series of articles rather than an advertisement. As more and more businesses make the switch from relying solely on traditional advertising – to posting creative and engaging content online. These companies are finding success in reaching their target audience, generating leads, and increasing revenue through B2B content marketing. 

After constantly being bombarded with traditional ‘sales pitches’, B2B companies are starting to look for more value from their suppliers and service provider. Content marketing helps to solve your target audience’s problems or concerns – proving your business’s products, services, knowledge, and experience to be the solution. Offering free value through content results in trust from the market, thus creating a strong B2B relationship.

This article covers the following:

What is B2B Content Marketing?

B2B Content Marketing is the creation and publishing of audio, video, or text-based content online. The common goals of content marketing are to increase awareness about your brand, provide knowledge, increase conversion rates and sales, promote a community of interested prospects, and achieve brand loyalty status with customers. 

Content Marketing Virality 

Creative, thought-provoking, educational, and empowering content within your industry can take a B2B business from zero traffic to viral status overnight. However, going viral doesn’t necessarily equate to B2B lead generation or increased sales statistics – it just means that an abundance of viewers saw and/or liked your content. The content value itself is what attracts and retains customer relationships. 

Some marketing experts are continually aiming for virality, while others are looking to create a tight-knit community of brand loyalists. Depending on your overarching company goals, be sure to align them with your content marketing strategy. For instance, if your goal is to increase brand awareness – creating a short-form, low-value yet entertaining video will help your company be better-known, but may not yield conversion rate spikes. On the other hand, if your goal is to generate warm leads, authoring a blog post on your website that educates and empowers your viewers to learn more about the industry, what your company provides to solve their problems, and guides them to opt-in to your mailing list is more apt to give you the desired results. 

Types of B2B Content Marketing 

There is a myriad of B2B content marketing types but selecting options based on where your industry leaders and your target audience spend their time online will help to reach the right people. These types can be separated into two categories: inbound content marketing and outbound content marketing. 

Outbound content marketing is a traditional marketing approach where your message gets put in front of potential customers. The viewers, which may or may not be your target audience, didn’t seek out that specific content and did not initiate additional contact. Some examples include cold calls, unsolicited sales visits, trade shows, and more. Outbound content marketing may possibly reach your target audience, but it does not resonate with a vast majority of recipients because it does not align with their interests and needs.

Inbound content marketing is a more genuine approach where you focus on attracting and building long-term relationships with potential clients that already have a need for your products or services. Inbound content marketing is deemed authentic and perceived as personalized to your customer persona. Due to a perceived connection with your company, the content may prompt further communication by opting into your email campaign, messaging you directly, or calling for more information. 

Infographics

Infographic content marketing is visual in nature. It’s a method used by B2B companies to publish content in an easy-to-read, eye-pleasing, direct manner. It commonly contains very straightforward text and clear graphics to effectively gain attention from your target audience. 

Infographic content is essential if the buyer persona is very busy, has a short attention span, needs high-value content that doesn’t require a lot of time to consume, and prefers powerful statement pieces instead of long, drawn-out stories. These visual representations could be anything from charts and graphs to a relevant background image with a strong industry-specific statement over it. Some great examples from B2B supply chain companies include product availability charts, product specification guides, or service-related cheat sheets.

Blog Articles

Blog content marketing is a versatile and creative method of marketing. It lends itself to any goal – whether it be to introduce a new product, provide information about industry happenings, or create educational opportunities for potential B2B customers.

In addition to providing value to your existing customers, B2B blogs have an opportunity to attract new readers through organic searches. When creating blog posts, it’s essential to conduct SEO keyword research to ensure that your articles display higher in the list of results on search engines like Google and Bing. Blog content also allows for linking to external and internal content – including industry articles, your company’s social media accounts, and links to informational blog posts published on your website. 

Podcasts 

Podcast Content is largely audio-driven and extremely varied in genres. It has been labeled a digital advancement in broadcasting. Podcasts content exists on any topic you can think of, and this marketing method is growing rapidly – which prompted B2B businesses to begin sharing their own podcast content. Apple Podcasts have over 500,000 channels in more than 100 different languages to reach listeners worldwide.   

Creating B2B podcast content positions your company as a leader in the industry and can lead potential clients to view you as the go-to firm. Each podcast episode could include a 20-minute interview, high-value educational content, personal industry thoughts, and opinions, or a focus on storytelling. 

Videos 

B2B video content marketing is a process that includes planning, recording, editing, and publishing videos for your B2B prospects or current clientele. This content marketing approach leaves ample room for originality. A single video channel could house a variety of subtopics to reach that target audience including video versions of podcasts, industry-specific explainer videos, day-in-the-life videos highlighting your supply chain company’s inner workings, coverage of a tradeshow or expo, product demonstration content, customer testimonial videos, and even interviews with existing industry leaders.

It has been proven that while video production can be a lengthy, and talent-crucial process, it drastically improves brand awareness as it tends to resonate with prospects more effectively. Those who view B2B videos retain 95% of the content versus text-only marketing material. Most supply chain and service provider companies work to create their own video content, but some outsource this task to freelance professionals. Please note that outsourcing B2B video creation could add a decent amount to your existing marketing budget.  

Social Media 

Social media viewership is growing rapidly and B2B supply chain business owners are taking advantage of it. It is projected that over 4.4 billion global consumers will be active on social media by 2025. The key is researching which social media platforms your target B2B audience uses and creating content that is relevant to them. 

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tiktok, and Snapchat are just a few social media platforms to consider – each offering a slightly different content strategy. Facebook is encompasses written, visual, and video posts catering to the social preferences of a wide variety of middle-aged global citizens while LinkedIn boasts predominantly business-centered content. Tiktok concentrates on short-form videos while Instagram is primarily image-focused. As the market warrants it, these social media platforms add more features to cater to the growing preferences of their users and iterate code algorithms that work tirelessly to keep users on the apps – displaying or suggesting content depending on each user’s previous content engagement. 

Paid Ads

In addition to organic marketing strategies, many businesses have a B2B digital marketing strategy that uses paid ad content to improve brand awareness with other organizations, generate leads, and increase the supply chain company’s bottom line. It can include pay-per-click (PPC), sponsored content, and social media campaigns, for example. 

When it comes to publishing paid ad content, it’s crucial to know your target audience to assure that your monetary investment reaches the right people. Attracting B2B clientele requires high-value and high-quality content that works to engage those potential leads and drives them to your website, social accounts, opt-in page, or another avenue to retain the B2B relationship and gather audience data. Be sure to measure the success of your paid ad marketing campaign through KPMs (and iterate as needed) to confirm that the advertising funds are being spent wisely. 

Select social media platforms also offer inorganic (paid) advertisement opportunities within business social channels. Facebook, for instance, offers B2B businesses the opportunity to place ads on their platform. 

In addition to Facebook, ads can be placed on other social media sites like Tiktok, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Outside of social media, consider Google Ads, Bing Ads, and YouTube video content. 

Targeting and Retargeting Potential Customers

Paid ads marketing helps to achieve company goals with targeting and retargeting strategies to more efficiently reach your B2B customer persona. Retargeting through an ad campaign pixel continues to push your relevant content ads to potential customers who have viewed or shown interest in previous ads, visited your website, have abandoned their cart, or have failed to fully complete an opt-in form, for example. 

Retargeting pixels can be used to promote brand awareness and entice prospects to learn more about what your B2B supply chain or service provider company can offer to solve their buyer concerns.

B2B Content Repurposing Strategy

Keeping up with B2B content marketing can be time-consuming but with the right strategy, one stellar piece of content can be used on almost every platform – working to generate leads, increase awareness of your brand, create loyal clients, and ultimately achieve those KPM marketing metrics. 

For example, your B2B supply chain business creates a video of a podcast interview with a well-known business leader discussing some of the most pressing issues facing the industry – and how they can be solved. The video can be uploaded to YouTube and the audio can be extracted to add to your podcast channel. Download the transcript from that YouTube video and post it as a blog article on your website.  Use powerful quotes from the audio and generate infographics to post on other sites. Clips of the video podcast can be snipped and uploaded to social media sites that promote short-form video. Upload the clip containing the most powerful call to action and use it as a method of inorganic lead generation. 

With many types of B2B content marketing to choose from, it’s imperative that your efforts are warranted by first researching where your target audience spends their time online, setting a realistic budget if deciding to use B2B paid ad content marketing and spending the time to create high-value content which keeps your customers coming back for more. When they consume more of your quality content, they are more apt to transition from a lead to a loyal customer – which always helps your B2B supply chain or service provider company’s bottom line.

What is B2B Digital Marketing?

By
Trademodo - Kenton Liu
-
b2b digital marketing

Disruptions to global supply chains like, the Corona virus pandemic, have changed the way people live, work, communicate, and spend money – which means the methods that B2B businesses use to market their products and services have also changed.

B2B suppliers and service providers are including digital marketing into their B2B marketing strategy as a way to reach prospects, generate leads, and engage current customers where those buyers spend a majority of their time – online.

This article covers the following:

What is B2B Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is the use of online content, videos, and advertising materials in any location that is accessible via the internet. Also referred to as “Online Marketing,” it creates brand and product awareness and is virtually “expected” by current and potential clients. Digital marketing is delivered through many avenues including websites, social platforms, and searchable content. The goal is to introduce your marketing content to other businesses and organizations that are interested in what your company has to offer. 

B2B methods of digital marketing could be inorganic (paid) like sponsored website banners and paid social media advertisements or organic (free) such as high-value blog articles and industry-specific YouTube videos. 

Digital marketing can directly target leads that are most likely to purchase or become recurring customers based on firmographics including geographical location, industry, size of the business, its structure and status, and how it performs. These efforts can result in qualified leads and improved conversion rates. 

Types of B2B Digital Marketing 

Digital marketing in the B2B sector offers the opportunity for creativity and imagination with marketing strategies. Anything from blog articles and website copy to digital coupons and free high-value guides is fair game to attract potential clients to your seafood supply or service provider business. 

Website Marketing

Clients and potential clients have come to expect companies to have a website – and may consider them less credible when they don’t. Not only can a website showcase your branding including mission, vision, and value statements, but it can house your product and services listing, descriptions, ordering information, contact information, B2B lead generation tactics, and even a blog with valuable content for your viewers. 

Reluctant to build a website for your supply or service provider company? It’s not as intimidating or costly as you might think! Many website builders have plug-and-play functionality and affordable hosting plans for businesses in every industry. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is a marketing strategy that improves website copy with the goal of ranking higher on internet search engines like Bing and Google. The closer to the top of the list of search results, the more apt potential clientele will click on your website link, review your content, and progress to a warm/hot lead.

Search engines use a myriad of criteria when crawling your website and earmark that data to help internet users find exactly what they are searching for quickly. Not only are the search engine crawling bots looking for content value, but it’s also searching for devious methods used to trick the system into ranking higher – which could negatively affect the website owner. 

There are three primary types of SEO: on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO. On-page SEO looks for keywords or phrases in your website content to attract leads and rank higher on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Off-page SEO focuses on your relationships with other high-value content creator websites through backlinks (linking other industry-specific articles to your website content). Technical SEO concentrates on the behind-the-scenes coding of your website including page loading speed and file optimization. For best results, use all three types of SEO on your seafood supply or service provider website.

Search Engine Marketing 

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) uses paid methods to rank your website on SERPs. If you’ve ever performed a search on Google, for example, and noticed that the first few websites listed have a small “Ad” rectangle next to them – those are examples of Search Engine Marketing. 

When creating an SEM campaign, target your ideal customer using firmographic criteria and industry-specific keywords to ensure the most effective use of your marketing budget. 

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Pay Per Click is an inorganic (paid) strategy where marking funds are only charged when they result in successful clicks on your promoted link. The most popular PPC methods are Google ads, but targeted campaigns can also be placed on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 

Content Marketing 

The goal of B2B content marketing is to gather leads, increase awareness of your brand, and increase traffic that leads to engaged customers. This can be accomplished through the optimization of digital content like blog posts, infographics, audio and video content, ebooks, guides, and whitepapers. 

These pieces of content can be free giveaways to entice leads to opt-in to further communication from your company, posted on your website using SEO strategies, or promoted through other advertising platforms like radio, television ads, YouTube, and social media sites. YouTube and Facebook (among others) are also considered search engines. Be sure to use SEO strategies when posting video content to social platforms as well. 

Sponsored Content 

Sponsored content requires a company to pay a well-known person or company to promote your marketing material, product, or service to their audience. Contracting a high-performing influencer with a large audience that works within your industry to highlight your brand could bring in a slew of new leads. When targeting your ideal customer, micro-influencers (companies and people with less than 100,000 followers) may be a more affordable and targeted option for sponsored content. 

Influencers could promote your supply or service provider company through social media platforms, blog articles, video content, or on their company/personal website. These professionals often feel more authentic to their (and your) audience and have already built trust with the shared customer persona – which can translate to your company through sponsored content. 

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social media has become a staple for businesses in every industry, including B2B businesses. With an effective campaign, virality within your niche could promote your brand and products/services practically overnight. Social media platforms for B2B firms could include Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. 

For many business owners, producing enough content to progress leads through the buyer’s journey could feel like a second full-time job. Social media managers are often hired by companies with the sole purpose of creating, posting, and analyzing content effectiveness.  The use of automation applications for social media postings can save company owners a lot of time by creating one piece of content and posting it in multiple places based on a predetermined timetable. 

Online Public Relations (PR) 

Online PR includes partnering with other businesses or individuals that put out digital content like blogs, recurring publications, or media-focused creators. Public relations online could include positive reviews of your company and its offerings, engaging discussions on your website or social platform, or gaining media attention through digital means like podcasts or video productions. 

Affiliate Marketing 

Affiliates are companies or individuals who promote products and services on behalf of businesses commonly in exchange for a monetary commission or free products. The company only compensates these affiliates when the sales have been made – not based on the time and effort spent to produce the marketing content. A user-specific web link is assigned to each affiliate and used to identify those whose content led to the sale. Oftentimes these links are included in SEO-focused blog articles, video content, or social media posts. 

It’s important to lay the ground rules when using affiliates to ensure your brand is presented in a way that aligns with your company’s mission, vision, and values. Spamming affiliate links everywhere, offering confusing or incorrect information about your company or products, and the production of low-value or inappropriate content could lead prospects to envision your company negatively. 

Create an agreement that spells out the terms and conditions of the partnership including company information, payment structure and frequency, and any direction on content posting. 

Email Marketing 

Once a prospect becomes a viable lead, many B2B companies include them in their email marketing campaigns to communicate new products/services, trade show or expo schedules, promotions, and to direct them to any digital content like videos, ebooks, and your website, for example. 

How to do B2B Digital Marketing

Many B2B supply and service providers have shied away from creating online content and have relied on in-person networking events like tradeshows and expos or physical marketing materials to showcase their products and services. Once implemented, digital marketing has the potential to reach exponentially more prospects than the former strategies. The question becomes… how?  

Create Goals and Set the Budget

Before creating any digital marketing campaigns, develop your overarching goals and set a realistic budget. Consider who you want to reach, what you want to promote, and the funding reserved to achieve them. When setting these company targets, ensure that they are realistic and measurable. Once the objectives are created, use the most effective marketing approaches to meet or exceed them. 

Develop a Strategy to Reach Company Goals

If your goal is increased brand awareness, creating short-form social media content for free in larger frequencies can lead more potential clients to your website for additional information, publicized content, and data-gathering methods. Ensure tracking is implemented to see how many new visitors have viewed your content and if it’s not working, the metrics spell out the need to pivot. Most website builders include integrated mechanisms to track visitor data, or you can install a tool to view the information. 

If you’re looking to promote a specific product you may be launching, use pay-per-click or SEO-driven blog articles to attract clients. Marketing data can be extracted from these strategies to analyze the campaign’s success. With paid PPC campaigns, it’s important to set a budget within the ad-creation process to ensure that you don’t unintentionally overspend. Instead, nurture the leads that the campaign brought into “active customer” status and repeat the PPC campaign method to draw more prospects using the generated revenue from the first round. 

Set up Measurable KPMs (Key Performance Metrics) 

Choose the Key Performance Metrics (KPMs), also referred to as KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that matter most to your company. These KPMs could include measuring revenue created from the marketing strategies implemented, visitor count to your website or promotional content, number of generated leads and the cost per lead, successful client referrals, advertising return on investment, and email open rates. 

These KPMs must align with your previously developed goals and be measurable. If the efforts are not meeting or exceeding target KPMs it may be time to reevaluate, try other methods, or allocate more (or less) manpower to marketing. Once you’re firm on the goals, the strategies, and which metrics you’d like to measure (and how they fit into the buyer’s journey), things become more clear on how to proceed. 

Test and Measure KPMs

No one has it all figured out before they begin… especially with marketing. Testing and experimenting with strategies that align with your preset goals and KPMs can help lead the way. Start creating smart content that works to achieve those goals with existing customer persona knowledge that you know now. 

As the KPM data begins to roll in, analyze it. It demonstrates the success (or failure) of each marketing campaign and allows for repeatability, iteration, or complete abandonment of a current marketing endeavor – paving the way for something more targeted. Use the collected KPM metrics statistics as a guide for your next strategy. 

Digital marketing promotes creativity and imagination to raise brand awareness, product introduction, and sales – but often is trial and error. When you’re armed with actionable goals, measurable KPMs, and a host of varied strategies that focus on your target audience, digital marketing can be an invaluable asset to your supply and service provider company.

What is B2B Lead Generation?

By
Trademodo - Paul Pan
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b2b lead generation

Generating leads for a business could be one of the single most important B2B marketing efforts for any seafood supplier or service provider’s success. Gathering potential client interest in your products and services helps companies progress those potential customers through the buyer’s journey – and in turn, raise the organization’s bottom line. 

This article covers the following:

What is B2B Lead Generation?

B2B lead generation is the process of attracting other businesses or organizations to your B2B company with the intent of selling your products and services to them, often on a recurring or contractual basis, and developing or building mutually-satisfying business relationships. 

However, generating B2B leads is just one important part of the B2B marketing agenda. 

Hubspot released their 2021 State of Marketing Report and found that one of the top deliverables for businesses across the globe is to render more leads that will convert to active consumers. 

What is a B2B Lead?

A B2B lead is a company, organization, or representative of one (with decision-making power)  that is interested in learning more about your company, products, and services. They may have engaged with your digital content, left their contact information with you at a trade show, or have requested to connect with you on a social or business networking platform. 

A lead may be in the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey – meaning that they are just learning that your company may have the answers to the problems they’ve been struggling with and how your products and services could alleviate those issues. 

Gathering these leads allows B2B companies to nurture these prospects through the remaining buyer’s journey stages until either they become a paying client or they realize that your offerings don’t quite align with their needs and preferences. 

It’s important not to waste your advertising dollars convincing leads that they need your products or services – when they’ve already decided that they don’t. It’s best to use that funding and effort for those who are actively searching for what you provide. 

Types of B2B Leads

There are three categories of initial B2B leads: cold, warm, and hot leads. Once a lead is converted into a warm or hot lead, they can be categorized more based on how much (and what type) of your content they have consumed. 

Cold Lead 

These types of leads have never heard of you, don’t know what you offer, and may not be at all interested in hearing what you have to say. Most relate cold leads to telemarketing where a salesperson contacts a business out of the blue to introduce themselves. This unsolicited contact could take them by surprise, catch them at a bad time, or result in unwarranted anger. 

Warm Lead 

They may have a little interest but are not sold on your company or products/services quite yet. They need nurturing and much more information to make their final decision on whether or not to contract with your supply or service provider company. 

Hot Lead 

Hot leads are ready to secure what you have to offer. They may have been referred from an existing satisfied client, have consumed enough of your content to know they want to do business with you, or have used your products/services in the past and were confident in the result. 

Once they are warm or hot, there are four subcategories of B2B leads produced through marketing outreach efforts and are identified based on where they currently lie on the buyer’s journey.  

Information Qualified Leads (IQL)

Information qualified leads have seen a little bit of information about your business, products, and services and may be interested in more. They may have consumed just enough to bring them from a cold lead to a warm one. 

Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)

Marketing qualified leads have engaged with your online content, ads, or marketing team but may not be quite ready to speak with a sales team member about contracting with you. They may have opted-in with their contact information to one of your online forms to receive more information or subscribe to your email list. 

Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)

Sales qualified leads are those who have indicated they may be ready to make a purchase. For instance, they could have contacted your team through the company website to inquire about your offering prices or delivery schedule. 

Product Qualified Leads (PQL)

Product qualified leads may have sampled or used your product in the past and are ready to become recurring or contracted customers. They could have inspected a sample of your product at your warehouse, or a tradeshow, and liked what your sales team had to say – in addition to your product selection. 

Service Qualified Leads (SQL) 

Service qualified leads have signaled that they are ready to enter that decision stage of the buyer’s journey and want to contract with you for the services you provide. For example, they have used your services in the past and are ready to upgrade. 

How to Generate B2B Leads

Prospects can be led to your business through many different marketing avenues including online content, trade shows, blogs posts, articles, and even digital coupons. The most effecti

ve lead generation strategies are authentic and work to naturally grow interested in the company – they do not include trickery or cold persuasion tactics.

Organic Lead Generation

Organic marketing strategies are often the result of having a B2B content marketing strategy that involves distributing digital or physical marketing material and informative content. This can be blog posts on your own B2B website, sharing resources on business networking platforms like LinkedIn, creating downloadable company-sponsored content, or through professional article submissions on industry websites. 

When potential customers search online and arrive at your article or post, they can learn more about your company and its products. They learn what your company’s mission, vision, and values entail and they can decide to partner with you, choose to learn more or know that your company does not meet their specific needs. 

Paid Lead Generation

Paying to attend trade shows to showcase your B2B products or services, launching targeted B2B digital marketing campaigns, and offering trials or samples of your offerings at your own expense are just a few examples of paid lead generation. 

It is not recommended to purchase lead lists. These are commonly lists of email addresses or other contact information you can reach out to advertise your products and services. Those contacts do not have an existing interest in your offerings and most likely, will not convert to paying customers. They have not opted-in to your content and it could give those contacts a feeling of intrusiveness. To make matters worst, running an email campaign could get your company’s email addresses put on a black list or marked as spam.

Statistically, one of the most effective B2B paid or organic marketing strategies is through referrals. Potential customers who know and trust other organizations that also use your products and services may be more apt to become paying clients. Consider offering your customers a discount for successful referrals or even a shipment of a new product getting ready to launch – in exchange for any recommendation leading to a new customer sale or contract. 

Engaging B2B Leads

Once leads are generated, B2B supply and service providers nurture them through the buyer’s journey with the end goal of transforming them into active clients. There is a multitude of methods used to nurture leads including email campaigns, high-value content, and personalized phone calls or meetings. No matter your preferred method, each should include information gathering, a call to action, and the means to over-deliver.

Capturing Lead Details

If personal contact information is not gathered during the lead generation process, be sure to collect their name, email address, purchasing timeline, barriers to their decision, budget, etc. Assemble any information that may be helpful to the sales team once the lead moves on to the consideration or decision stages of the buyer’s journey. 

Calls To Action

Each method of attracting new prospects must include a CTA (call to action). Direct those potential clients to visit your website, download your educational guide, use your coupon, or connect with your digital platform in some way. This CTA often leads to an opt-in form where you can capture their contact information and has the potential to automatically enter that data into your email autoresponder to begin receiving promotional and informational content through their inbox. 

Be sure to personalize those CTAs which can identify which stage of the buyer’s journey that possible client may be in and guide them in the preferred direction. They may be a first-time visitor or an existing customer.  Using Smart CTAs drastically increases the likelihood of converting them to paying customers. 

Two primary method categories tend to be effective with B2B businesses: organic and paid lead generation. Many supply and service providers use both marketing methods to attract prospects to their offerings. 

Over Deliver 

No matter which method of lead generation (that includes a call to action) best aligns with your goals and budget, it’s important to always over-deliver and keep your word. For example, a potential client saw an ad on LinkedIn that was specifically created to target retail seafood establishments within a 500 km radius and it resonated with those business owners. 

They clicked on the ad and downloaded an educational guide on how to properly store the products they purchase from you – to ensure freshness and quality. This guide must over-deliver. It must be of extremely high value. When those potential clients realize what you provide for free, they will be excited to see what you provide when they convert to contracted customers. 

How to Qualify Leads 

Qualifying leads is an analytical process that helps to determine whether a lead is ready to become an active customer. Using this qualifying process allows you to focus your efforts on leads that are more likely to convert and become paying customers.

Qualifying IQLs and MQLs (Information and Marketing Qualified Leads)

When planning to qualify marketing leads, the content and advertisements can be targeted to potential clients and require meeting certain criteria based on your organization’s specifications. Criteria such as the geographical location of your service area, the company size based on whether you’re looking to help “the little guy” or large retail chains, and the possible client’s role – to ensure that the content is reaching someone with decision-making-authority and organization buying power. 

Once decided that they meet preset criteria, these leads are often passed onto the sales team for further nurturing. 

Qualifying SQLs, PQLs, and SQLs (Sales, Product, and Service Qualified Leads)

Once the sales team has already determined leads as being in the consideration or decision stages of the buyer’s journey, they could be ready to progress through the sales process. 

There are countless ways to qualify leads but these three condensed methods are tried and true based on market research and B2B strategies. 

Research – Find out what these potential clients do, their mission, value, and vision statements, where they might be having trouble that you could help with, what their needs, tastes, and preferences are, their budget, purchasing timeline, contact information for those with the company credit card, and any other factors that could influence their decision to purchase. 

Data Gathering – Use an automated mechanism to capture contact information and any other data that may help determine their level of interest or buying habits. Many B2B suppliers and service providers use a questionnaire, opt-in form, or sales funnel. Also analyze how your leads are engaging with your articles, guides, posts, and ads to determine the current success of your marketing strategies related to information capture. 

Give them a Score – Lead scoring is giving each lead a numerical score based on their interest and ability/willingness to purchase. Base this score on the answers to some critical questions such as: 

  1. Budget – What is it and does it align with your products/services? 
  2. Authority – Does the lead have the authority to make buying decisions?
  3. Goals – What are the organization’s goals? 
  4. Plans – How are they planning to achieve these goals?
  5. Challenges – What challenges are they facing when trying to accomplish their goals?
  6. Timeline – What kind of timeline are they up against to solve their concerns? 
  7. Negative Consequences and Positive Implications– What could happen if they meet/don’t meet the objectives?

Assign certain numerical values to their actions (example: 2 points if they opted-in to receive emails or connected on social media) and their responses (example: 5 points for a qualified lead who has large company goals on a short timeline). The higher the score, the more apt they are to purchase your products and services. 

From deciding on an increased buyer awareness path to generating leads… qualifying those leads and making sales, the marketing process (when done well with proven strategies and great analytics) can help any B2B supplier or service provider from “making do” to thriving. 

The Ultimate Guide to B2B Marketing in 2022

By
Trademodo - Paul Pan
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b2b marketing

If you haven’t created or implemented a B2B marketing strategy because you’re under the impression it’s costly or not worth the effort… you’re not alone. Many seafood supply chain companies may have the same perception but marketing isn’t a “chore” – it’s an effective growth strategy. 

Marketing is a crucial skill required of every business to create public awareness about your brand, products, and services. It works to target your ideal customers, engage them, build a positive industry reputation, and of course, make sales to increase your bottom line.

This article covers the following:

What is B2B Marketing? 

B2B, or Business-to-Business (formerly known as Industrial Marketing), is a marketing strategy used by institutions whose ideal customers are other companies. A seafood supplier or service provider’s B2B customers include other organizations like processing plants, distributors, or food service companies.

Examples of B2B Businesses include

Compared to B2C (Business-to-Consumer) marketing where knowledge of one-on-one sales processes and end-user preferences is required, B2B marketing requires suppliers and service providers to focus on developing relationships with other businesses – and the true art of contractual deal-making. It demands companies target the needs, interests, and challenges of the individual making the purchase on behalf of the organization. 

There are two questions every B2B company must ask themselves: 

  1. Are you currently knowledgeable of, or willing to learn how to conduct an effective B2B marketing campaign? 
  2. Do you have the time and energy to maintain B2B marketing campaigns over the long term? 

If the answer to either of those questions is, “no” – consider contracting a B2B marketing agency like Trademodo. A marketing agency is a third-party company often hired by B2B companies to customize your branding message and ensure the nuances of B2B marketing are considered when managing marketing campaigns. B2B strategies are very different from B2C marketing and for companies with time constraints or shortages in staffing expertise, hiring a third-party marketing agency is a convenient option.

Types of B2B Marketing 

The three primary types of B2B marketing include a more traditional approach, digital methods, and personal selling. 

Traditional B2B Marketing

Radio and television advertisements, as well as print ads in newspapers or industry-specific publications, can grab the attention of your target audience and are considered more traditional methods of marketing. While these strategies have been used for decades, they still provide value to B2B supplier and service provider companies. 

They may be a bit more costly to implement – as businesses are all competing for air time and ad space. Well-placed advertisements are one profitable tactic to create brand awareness and showcase specific products or services. 

Digital B2B Marketing 

Highlighting your offerings through online, digital means helps with documenting and tracking how many clients see your ads, their online preferences, and the overall success of your marketing strategies. Creating educational blog articles, engaging social media videos, sponsored and paid content, and email marketing are just a few strategies to boost your digital marketing presence and generate MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads). 

Personal B2B Selling 

Potentially one of the most effective means of marketing, personal selling is also considered the most expensive. Networking and face-to-face interaction are crucial skills that may take time to be mastered by a sales team but have the greatest potential to generate sales. 

Oftentimes, personal selling is paired with another type of marketing. For example, a client may see your digital ads on Google or a social media platform and follow up by requesting a personal sales call to learn more. At that point, your talented sales team can swoop in to create the relationship, and make the sale. 

B2B Marketing Strategy 

Prior to releasing any marketing materials, executing any marketing campaigns, or deploying brand messaging, there are a few crucial planning steps to make certain that marketing efforts prove value for your B2B company. It’s important to analyze the typical buyer’s journey so you can position your company (and marketing) successfully. 

B2B Buyer’s Journey 

Understanding the steps in the buyer’s journey helps to lay the constructive strategy for marketing your B2B products and services. 

There are many versions of the buyer’s journey but the primary stages are as follows: 

  1. Awareness 
  2. Consideration 
  3. Decision 

Awareness Stage 

Before your B2B company can offer a solution to a buyer’s problem, they must first be aware that they have a problem and that your company has the solution to it. This stage is the perfect time to emphasize the methods your company uses to alleviate the buyer’s pain points or struggles. 

Examples of pain points could include: 

  • Their current supplier is inconsistent with delivery which negatively affects customer satisfaction and potentially their bottom line.
  • The selection with their current supplier does not meet their needs. 
  • They are a new business and in need of a reputable and consistent seafood supplier or service provider. 

Consideration Stage

Once the potential customer is aware of your ability to adequately solve their problems, they enter into the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey. At this point, potential clientele may be comparing your offerings with other similar companies and deciding which best suits their needs and preferences. 

They may be searching for specific products or services, testimonials, and referrals from other organizations who have used your services in the past or may need to test out what you have to offer in order to make a final decision on a long-term agreement.

Decision Stage 

At this stage, the buyer’s research is complete and they make a decision on which supplier or service provider is best for them. However, the work is not yet done. If they have settled on your products or services, it is imperative to ensure their buying process is as smooth as possible to ensure repeat business and recurring revenue. 

Company Branding

To entice customers into the buyer’s journey, every supplier or service provider must position themselves through effective B2B marketing efforts. Nail down what your company stands for, where it’s headed in the future, and what will be accomplished. Identifying your brand helps to accurately craft marketing messaging and attract ideal buyers. 

1. Brand Positioning

A company brand is more than just a logo, color scheme, and postcard graphics – it’s your mission, values, and overarching vision. What was your goal when you first began your company? Who were you aiming to help? Discover your “why” and morph it into a strong statement that clearly identifies company values, is very specific, and targets the companies and organizations you wish to do business with. 

Crafting your Mission Statement

A mission statement can help define your B2B brand by concisely describing why your company was started and what you’d like to achieve. 

One example of a mission statement from a top seafood producer is: 

“We sustainably maximise the value of the North Atlantic marine resources, for the benefit of our owner and the local communities in which we operate.” – Royal Greenland

The mission statement should be succinct and powerful to avoid any confusion or misconceptions about who you are, who you aim to help, and how. 

Devising your Value Statement

Creating a value statement tells your consumers exactly what you bring to the table and provides the information to make a clear decision on whether they want to work with your brand. It weeds out the types of businesses that don’t fit within your core audience and advances organizations that are a perfect match for your company goals. A clear value statement also exemplifies your company culture. 

A company value statement should also be brief, use compelling language, and communicate your company’s soul. 

One example from one of the world’s largest seafood companies is: 

“As one of the largest fishing and food companies in the world, we understand good business comes with big responsibilities. Our success depends on the strong relationships we’ve built with honesty, respect, and trust over time. Those who do business with us, and our own people, know how committed we are to these values.” – Maruha Nichiro

The wording does not need to be formal in nature, but clear, powerful, and utterly transparent. 

Identifying Your Vision Statement

A company vision statement describes the overall goals of the business. Map out specific, overarching projections for your company. It should speak to, not only the goal of the company, but of every employee in it. Executives and employees alike should align with a company’s vision statement.

One example of a vision statement from one of the best seafood companies: 

“Our vision for 2030 is to go beyond nutrition and into sustainable protein production: both in feed and food, both of animal and non-animal origin. We will evolve our business beyond providing products towards integrated solutions that are closer to the consumer.” – Nutreco

Vision statements are often to the point and can include some creativity. It may be helpful to consult employees when crafting a vision statement to ensure total company buy-in. 

2. Discover your Target Audience

It is clear that B2B marketing strategies target other businesses and organizations, but 

to discover your target audience, it must be more specific. Clearly identifying your B2B target

audience personalizes B2B marketing efforts and could result in greater lead generation and

sales outcomes. 

What criteria shapes a Target Audience for a B2B seafood supply chain company? 

Narrow the list of businesses that will benefit the most from your products or services. Are there companies that you can contact that may not have previously considered your products or solutions? Analyze who your competitors are targeting, and what advantage you may have over those competitors.

What are their purchasing preferences? 

If the goals of your B2B company are to help the “little guy” in the industry, you may look to attract long-term contracts by being more responsive or flexible to their needs. On the other hand, you may aim to target large-scale clients who are looking for consistency and exclusivity. Each of these requires different B2B marketing techniques.

What problems does your B2B company wish to solve for potential clients? 

When offering business solutions, it’s crucial to identify your customer’s challenges, and how they may have attempted to address those obstacles. What makes your service or products better than what they have tried, and how does this stack up with your competitors?

Consider your current clientele.

Are these businesses or organizations that you would like to continue doing business with? Was your initial goal something different and you initially attracted customers that did not align with business goals? If you got it right on the first try, analyze those current customers as your target market. 

What is the target audience’s communication style (and does your business aim to market to them in that fashion)? 

If your ideal buyer has a website and is active online, you may consider approaching them digitally via their website, social media, or available contact information. They will likely check to see if you have a digital presence to get a feel for your business. If their business is offline, they assumably prefer face-to-face communication. Do you have a mutual contact that can offer a quality referral, or can you send your sales team to personally approach them? 

What is their geographical location? 

Do you have the bandwidth to do business with companies nationwide or internationally? Do you have the correct certifications and capabilities to meet their needs? For international businesses, are you familiar with applicable laws and regulations? What kind of risk are you exposing yourself to, and do you have a strategy to mitigate any imaginable risks?

While there are MANY questions you could ask yourself to target your ideal audience, focus on the firmographics and behaviors of those businesses you intend to partner with. 

3. Competitor Analysis

If you have not recently looked at your competitor’s offerings or you don’t understand who you’re up against, it’s time.

Conduct a SWOT Analysis to gain a full understanding of your supply company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats which places you in a position to compare, alter, and grow your business through systematic research. 

A SWOT Analysis is often visualized through a 4-square grid format and separated horizontally by the “helpful vs. harmful” characteristics based upon whether they are dependent on “internal or external” forces, which are positioned vertically.

What goes into developing a SWOT Analysis? 

Strengths 

Reflect on what your company does well. Complete a “brain dump” of these strengths – even if you may think they are small or insignificant – every strength counts. They can be company-wide or departmental-specific strengths like customer service or sales. Identifying these strengths identifies what IS working and confirms the direction to continue capitalizing on those successful strategies. 

  • Which of your current marketing efforts positively affect the bottom line? 
  • What is the best and most effective B2B communication strategy? 
  • Which strengths could you consider better than your competitors? 

Weaknesses

Not only is it crucial to list all the areas in which your company succeeds… you must analyze the areas in which your B2B company can improve. When you’re aware of your internal weaknesses, you can work to overcome them and put your business in a position to grow and succeed.

  • What stops potential clients from making their first purchase after they’ve inquired about your products and services? 
  • If any of your clients don’t return for services, identify why.
  • Are you struggling to get your customers to reconcile their invoices promptly?

Opportunities 

Opportunities pose great possibilities from which your supplier and service provider company could benefit. Think of these external opportunities as realistic goals and use them as strategies to improve and separate your business (in a positive way) from that of your competitors. 

  • Is there an event website that your target audience is currently flocking to, where you can showcase your products and services? 
  • Were you made aware of a payment processing software that could increase the ease, speed, and efficiency with which your clients could settle their balance?
  • Are there global events or trends that are changing the landscape of the seafood industry, and is there a gap you can fill?

Threats 

What are the outside threats to your success? Identify these types of threats to ensure that they are prevented quickly and avoid repercussions. Threats can be from the changing market, new laws or regulations, or more commonly from your competitors, for example. 

  • Is there a new B2B competitor providing services in your geographical area?
  • Are you relying on any outdated processes that could be made obsolete with technology that might be adopted by your competitors or customers?
  • Are there competitors that can outperform you but are not currently in your market, and can the barriers preventing their entry easily be overcome?

4. Decide on the best marketing channels to reach the Target Audience

Knowing where your current and ideal customers are spending their time paves the way for targeted B2B marketing efforts. Where is your target audience getting their industry data from, does it seem like they prefer to communicate through emails, do they have a blog and website? Their behavior can provide hints about whether you should be advertising on a particular website, setting up an email outreach campaign, or creating your own B2B website, as they may expect you to have one. 

How to do B2B Marketing

B2B marketing in a way that’s effective and leads to overall success requires many different tactics that when compiled. When done well, they are a knock-out strategy for any seafood supply chain company. 

Lead Generation

B2B lead generation is a reputable method for businesses to connect with their target market and attract new leads. Generating various types of qualified leads through a myriad of proven and effective methods attracts more customers who may still be in the awareness and consideration stages of the buyer’s journey.

There are two primary categories of lead generation strategies – organic (free) and inorganic (paid). The most financially rewarding and effective tactics to attract prospects are authentic to the brand’s mission, vision, and values and work to naturally grow interest in the company. 

Organic Lead Generation 

This cost-free method of gaining qualified leads often includes the creation of engaging content that is consistent with brand messaging across many different channels. Crafting educational blog articles on your B2B supplier and service provider website, offering industry-specific downloadable content for visitors, and gaining company endorsements via video or text for your website or other advertising platforms are a few options to consider. Additionally, client testimonials promote trust and brand loyalty among current and potential clientele which can result in the attraction of more leads. 

Inorganic Lead Generation 

Organic methods may take time to gain traction with your potential client base but to speed up lead generation results, B2B companies often select inorganic strategies. These require research, organization, and a monetary investment upfront to be impactful and yield a high ROI (Return on Investment). 

Examples of historically profitable inorganic lead generation pursuits include spending labor funding and travel expenses to schedule in-person visits or sales calls with prospective clients. Many large-scale manufacturers and distributors appreciate personalized conversations about their needs. Investing in trade show entry fees and promotional materials offers potential clients the opportunity to sample your offerings and build trust in your B2B company. 

Digitally, placing ads on sites like Google or Bing requires a financial investment alongside the installation of tracking pixels – resulting in measurable KPMs to analyze marketing approach efficacy. Data extracted from these tracking pixels proves to be invaluable for achieving company revenue goals. 

If possible, offer your current consumers a reward for directing other customers to your supply business through a referral program. You could offer a percentage off their next supply order or a free amount of product with their next shipment. This is a great method for encouraging existing customers to try a new product you may be launching and consequently gathering more qualified leads.

Digital Marketing Campaigns 

As an inorganic marketing method, B2B digital marketing campaigns promote your products and services online, in exchange for a fee, and generate leads through online means.

Use tracking pixels, paid ads, and targeted advertising methods to get your name and business services in front of the right people – your target audience. Pay-per-click (PPC) is a budget-friendly way to integrate inorganic digital ad campaigns into your marketing portfolio where you only pay when a prospect clicks on the link (not to place it). This allows B2B companies to control the cost of their paid ad campaigns, and experiment with different variables to find the strategy that gives you the highest return on investment.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is essential to any content marketing strategy. Commonly, when potential clients have a problem, question, or concern, they turn to the internet to find the answers but with billions of websites on the internet, B2B supplier and service provider companies brainstorm methods to rank on search engines. The most effective method – SEO. Performing keyword research specific to your industry and using those “most searched words and phrases” strategically in your content helps your company get seen by potential clients and influences lead generation of MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads). 

Content Marketing 

Having a B2B content marketing strategy helps businesses by keeping clients informed. New and existing leads are interested and can benefit from receiving useful information from trusted sources that make their content digitally accessible through their website, emails, and social media platforms.

Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on your website to gain organic, unpaid, web traffic from people using search engines like Google. Using SEO strategies helps businesses rank on various search engines, meaning get toward the top of the list when someone organically searches for a specific keyword or phrase pertaining to your industry or product.

Many businesses either write or outsource the creation of their SEO-laced blog articles to inform of industry trends, showcase new products or services, and engage them with their seafood questions or concerns. SEO strategies are effective when posting written, image-based, or video content on social sites – in addition to website-focused digital locations.

Creating high-impact infographics, ebooks, and valuable educational content demonstrating industry expertise often proves effective for generating qualified leads. The content could be a chart or image depicting the steps in the seafood supply chain, highlighting the current state of the industry, or instructing viewers through downloadable manuals on proper seafood storage, for example.  

Many businesses, once leads are acquired, use a form of email marketing to showcase their products, upcoming promotions, and keep them updated on the mission, vision, and values of the company – creating an emotional connection often necessary to close sales.

Media Sponsorships 

Media sponsorships, when obtained, can be a true gift for supply or service providers. A media sponsorship often means that someone else is footing the bill for advertising events on platforms like regional television, radio, digital platforms, and physical media. For example, imagine the neighboring town is hosting its annual crab festival. Local media outlets may agree to run ads at their own expense to benefit the community that supports them. 

Industry-specific publications and websites that offer media sponsorships prove extremely effective to draw prospects to large-scale, national, or international events and have already done the legwork of targeting your shared audience. The owners of these publications may include SEO-focused blog articles describing the event with a direct call-to-action link to entice readers to register. If they have an email list of viewers, they may also be willing to sponsor a set of marketing communications containing directives to gain event visitors or even post video content on their social channels. 

In addition to the more traditional media sponsorship methods (like TV, radio, and print), social media influencers can have a huge impact on the number of new leads that approach your website for services. Influencers are often digital gurus and commonly, in exchange for a monetary fee, these popular channels can showcase and promote your goods, reaching new clientele and creating brand awareness (and credibility in the industry). 

If your company is planning to showcase your products at an event, the advertising benefits are both cost-free and extremely effective for gathering a slew of new leads, raising brand awareness, and gaining crucial credibility with visitors. 

Conclusion 

You do not have to be a marketing expert to have an effective targeted advertising campaign. Leverage the expertise of B2B marketing agencies to take care of the legwork. These third-party organizations understand marketing performance benchmarks and can help you create effective SEO articles, influencer-sponsored campaigns, content marketing strategies, and take care of paid ads on your behalf without the need to learn a myriad of new skills. They will track your campaigns to see what is working, what is not, and how much return you are getting from your investments so the strategy can be reevaluated and reorganized, as needed.

Defining every problem that your customers and potential customers are dealing with (and how you can resolve them) places your company at the head of the line when it comes to the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey. Use smart marketing strategies that place your business in front of your target market and watch your revenue grow as a result.

Seafood TOP 2021 – Top 20 global seafood companies in 2021

By
Trademodo - Paul Pan
-

The Seafood TOP 2021 list recognizes the outstanding innovations and achievements that are driving the seafood industry forward in 2021. The Trademodo editorial team has compiled a list of the top 20 seafood giants with annual revenues that have exceeded USD $1 billion, including vertically integrated fishing companies, seafood wholesalers, seafood processors, seafood distributors, and more.

1Maruha Nichiro, Japan – For being the largest sustainable focused seafood company 

2020 revenue of 862 billion Japanese Yen (USD $8.35 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). Maruha Nichiro is the world’s largest seafood company with 13,117 employees across 149 subsidiaries. They have 39 MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) and ASC (Aquatic Stewardship Council) certified seafood products, and are known for pioneering egg-to-harvest bluefin tuna farming. With operations tracing back to 1880, Maruha Nichiro’s global presence can now be found in over 70 countries and regions across the world. 

2Nissui (Nippon Suisan Kaisha), Japan – For pioneering land-based farmed mackerel

2020 revenue of 656 billion Japanese Yen (USD $6.55 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). Nissui is one of the largest seafood companies in the world with 9,431 employees and operations that cover all levels of the seafood supply chain. In addition to offering MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), ASC (Aquatic Stewardship Council), and MEL (Marine Eco-Label) certified products, they are also members of the GSSI (Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative) and SeaBOS (Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship). Nissui is known for heavily investing in research and development related to fish farming, food processing, finding pharmaceutical applications for their products, and more.

3Thai Union Group, Thailand – For cultivating seafood alternatives

2020 revenue of 132 billion Thai Baht (USD$ 4.05 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). Beginning as a canned tuna processor and exporter, Thai Union has grown to be a global seafood leader with over 70 subsidiaries across the world. They offer sustainably labeled products and are involved with the UN Global Impact, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), The Nature Conservancy, and more. Thai Union also heavily invested in innovative food companies with six major investments in the areas of alternative protein, functional nutrition, and value chain technology.

4Mowi ASA (Marine Harvest), Norway – For being the leading sustainable salmon producer

2020 revenue of 3.73 billion Euro (USD $ 4.18 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). Mowi is recognized as the largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon in the world, with operations in 25 countries and 12,000 employees. Their heavy investment into genetics, feed, and farming operations allowed them to produce 440,000 tonnes of salmon in 2020 – 20% market share. They have also implemented a sustainability strategy known as The Blue Revolution Plan.

5Cermaq Group AS (Mitsubishi Corporation), Japan – For salmon farming advancements

2020 revenue of 9.1 billion Norwegian Krone (USD $ 1.03 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). Cermaq is a leading salmon producer, with 3,000 employees and 166,000 tonnes of salmon produced in 2020. The company holds certifications with the ASC (Aquatic Stewardship Council), Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), GlobalG.A.P., and ISO (International Organization for Standardization). They have also been continually investing in research and development like with their semi-closed containment system.

6Dongwon Industries Co. Ltd, South Korea – For advancing aquaculture in South Korea

2020 revenue of 6,671 billion South Korean Won (USD $ 6.14 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). Dongwon Industries was founded in 1969 and holds the undisputed title of the largest fishing company in South Korea. Although the company heavily focuses on their operations in Asia, they still have a vast global presence with businesses involved in processing, logistics, distribution, packaging, and more. Their recent joint venture with Salmon Evolution puts them on our radar for their plans to create an 11,500 square meter land-based salmon farm.

7Nutreco (Skretting), Norway – For investments in disruptive food technologies

2020 revenue of 16.7 billion Euro (USD $ 20.26 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). Nutreco is best known in the seafood industry for Skretting, their aquaculture feed manufacturing subsidiary. They are an absolute giant, with over 51,600 employees across 64 countries. Although their expertise in feed is not limited to the seafood industry, they made our list for their recent investments into 14 disruptive food companies for feeding the future.

8Trident Seafoods, United States – For being the leader in sustainable fishing

2020 revenue of USD $2.5 billion. Trident Seafoods is one of the largest private family-owned seafood companies in the world with over 1,200 employees. They pride themselves on their fishing heritage and close ties with the fishermen. As a result, they are known for being one of the most responsible fishing companies in the industry. 

9Cargill, United States – For creating a 100% sustainable soy salmon feed

2020 revenue of USD $114.6 billion. Cargill is a food and agricultural giant, with over 155,000 employees across 70 countries. Although the company does not solely focus on the seafood industry, they still have 38 aquaculture feed facilities across 20 countries. They made our list for their recent commitment to sustainably source their marine feed ingredients.

10Kyokuyo, Japan – For sustainable skipjack tuna fishing

2020 revenue of 262 billion Japanese Yen (USD $ 2.54 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). Kyokuyo is one of the largest Japanese seafood companies involved in fishing and farming. They employ over 2,300 employees and are known for being a leader in sustainable skipjack tuna fishing. Kyokuyo offers products carrying MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), ASC (Aquatic Stewardship Council), and MEL (Marine Eco-Label) certified products.

11Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP Foods), Thailand – For sustainable fishmeal and green packaging

2020 revenue of 589 billion Thai Baht (USD $ 19.52 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). CP Foods specializes in animal feed, farming, and food production, and has a global presence in more than 17 countries. Their seafood branch is primarily focused on feed, farming, and production of shrimp and fish products. The company guarantees that all of its fishmeal is sustainably sourced, and is working towards 100% reusable, recyclable, upcyclable, or compostable packaging on its products. 

12Marubeni Corporation, Japan – For investing in recirculating aquaculture systems

2020 revenue of 6,827 billion Japanese Yen (USD $ 59.03 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). Marubeni is a major Japanese conglomerate with 310 subsidiaries and over 45,000 employees. Their seafood efforts are largely focused on consumer markets in Japan and the United States. In addition to carrying MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), ASC (Aquatic Stewardship Council), and MEL (Marine Eco-Label) certified products, Marubeni has also started to align with UN Sustainable Development Goals. They made our list for their recent investment in a sustainable closed-circulation aquaculture salmon operation based out of Denmark.

13Pacific Seafood, United States – For waste reduction and green packaging

2020 revenue unconfirmed, but previously reported revenues over USD $1 billion. Pacific Seafood is a major US-based seafood company that can trace its operations back to 1941. Despite experiencing COVID-related hardships, the company still has a strong commitment to environmental responsibility. They use and distribute recyclable packaging for fresh, frozen, and prepared seafood products. Pacific Seafood also recycled 350,000 lbs of metal in 2020 through their waste reduction plan.

14Cooke Aquaculture Inc. & Cooke Seafood USA, Canada – For fastest-growing private seafood company

2020 revenue unconfirmed, but reported USD $2.4 billion in 2018. Founded by Canadians in 1985, Cooke began as a single aquaculture company and has grown to become a global seafood powerhouse. The company now employs over 10,000 employees and ships over a billion pounds of seafood to 67 countries. With its recent acquisition of yet another processing company, the company now has more than 40 subsidiaries with just a 37-year history.

15BioMar (Schouw Co.), Denmark – For research and development into environmental friendly feed

2020 revenue of 1.5 billion Euro (USD $ 1.82 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). BioMar is a leading feed producer, supplying over 80 countries with high-performance aquaculture feed. The company’s team of 1500 produces 1.25 million tons of feed for an estimated 1 out of 5 farmed fish produced in both Europe and Chile. With a full-time research team and dedicated facilities, BioMar was able to launch a Blue IMPACT feed that is able to minimize the environmental impact associated with caged fish farming.

16Nueva Pescanova, Spain – For research and development in octopus farming

2020 revenue of 905 million Euro (USD $ 1.09 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). Nueva Pescanova is a massive Spanish seafood company with over 10,000 employees and a global presence in 80 countries. Known for its fishing and farming capabilities, the company’s research into octopus aquaculture has recently been concluded after making several significant breakthroughs. Nueva Pescanova is now in the process of opening the world’s largest octopus farm. Despite criticism from environmental groups about the ethics of octopus farming, the company has still made 654 corporate social responsibility actions including aligning with the UN Principles for a Sustainable Ocean.

17Tri Marine Group, United States – For being sustainable tuna fishing

2020 revenue of USD $1 billion. Tri Marine is a leading tuna fishing company with operations covering all levels of the tuna supply chain. The company is known for production equivalent to about 10% of all global tuna catch. As a result, the company has made an effort to lead sustainability efforts by being a founding member of the International Sustainable Seafood Foundation (ISSF), and the leader of the work done on tuna by the Seafood Task Force (STF). They have recently obtained MSC certification for longline-caught albacore and yellowfin tuna from the Solomon Islands.

18SalMar, Norway – For salmon production with 100% sustainable feed

2020 revenue of 12.91 billion Norwegian Krone (USD $ 1.49 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). SalMar is a major salmon producer, harvesting a total salmon volume of 173,500 tonnes of gutted weight in 2020. They have made heavy investments in both onshore and offshore salmon aquaculture facilities, and have grown to employ over 1700 personnel since 1991. SalMar aims to maintain its reputation as the largest and most efficient producer of farmed salmon by using feed that is deforestation-free, non-GMO, and not dependent on endangered fish stocks.

19Royal Greenland, Greenland – For collaborative research efforts

2020 revenue of 4.8 billion Danish Krone (USD $ 0.73 billion – exchange rate from 01/01/2021). Royal Greenland is a major seafood player owned by the Greenlandic Government. The company employs over 2,200 employees and is known for being the largest supplier of cold water prawns and Greenland halibut. Royal Greenland is a fully vertically integrated company that spends considerable effort in research and innovation. The company is currently involved in a shell-on prawn industrial research project, the European WASEABI research project, and a research project involved with scientifically documenting Atlantic cod production chains.

20High Liner Foods, Canada – For consumer-focused products and food services

2020 revenue of USD $0.83 billion. High Liner Foods is a leading processor of value-added frozen seafood. This Canadian company employs over 1,200 personnel and is known for its innovative award-winning seafood with MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), ASC (Aquatic Stewardship Council), and Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification labels. The company is also compliant and works with organizations like Seafood Watch, OceanWise, FIPs (Fishery Improvement Projects), SFP (Sustainable Fisheries Partnerships), the GSSI (Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative), and more.

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