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Bulgaria’s fish and seafood imports have grown steadily over the past decade and have nearly doubled. Bulgarian fish and seafood importers are seeking to expand the variety of fish available to consumers, particularly among the mid and high-value categories.

Since the Netherlands lifted all COVID-19 related restrictions at the end of February 2022 and most people returned to the workplace, new opportunities continue to emerge for U.S. agricultural products. Consumers are especially interested in healthier, more convenient, nutritious, and high-quality products.

Bulgarian fish and seafood importers are seeking to expand the variety of locally available fish, particularly among the mid and high-value categories. According to the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute (NSI), which measures trade data based on country of origin, and therefore captures U.S. trade routed through other European ports of entry, Bulgaria imported $166,000 of U.S. fish and seafood in 2021, up 29 percent from the difficult 2020, but significantly lower than the pre-COVID levels of $554,656 in 2019.

There are new export opportunities for oysters grown in Massachusetts and Washington since the EU lifted its import ban on live, chilled, frozen, and processed bivalve mollusks from the United States. As part of the equivalency arrangement between the EU and the United States, the U.S. market will now also be open for Dutch oysters, creating a win-win.

The Netherlands is increasingly becoming one of Europe’s leading importers and exporters of seafood products. The United States was the Netherlands’ 15th largest foreign supplier of seafood in 2021. U.S. exports were dominated by frozen Alaskan Pollock (AP) which represented two-thirds of U.S. seafood trade to the Netherlands.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s bulk, intermediate, and consumer-oriented (BICO) export data tracks U.S. food and agricultural trade shipped directly to Bulgaria. However, it does not measure the substantial levels of the U.S. agricultural trade to Bulgaria...

The Netherlands is one of Europe’s leading importers and exporters of seafood products.

Bulgarian fish and seafood importers are seeking to expand the variety of fish available locally, particularly among the mid- and high-value categories.

The food processing industry in Bulgaria accounts for about 20 percent of the country’s industrial output.

The Netherlands is increasingly becoming one of Europe’s leading importers and exporters of seafood products.

Bulgarian fish importers seek to expand local availability, especially mid- and high-value fish products.

The following report contains information about Bulgaria’s food processing industry and food ingredients market.