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The global seafood trade, embodied nutrients, and nutritional affordability
Yaqin Liu1, Martin D Smith2, Joshua K Abbott3
1Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.
Nature Communications
|July 2, 2025
Summary
Developing countries gain a nutritional advantage from imported seafood, acquiring more nutrients per dollar compared to developed nations. This "nutritional bargain" is influenced by factors like seafood processing and product form.
Area of Science:
- Food security and nutrition
- International trade
- Agricultural economics
Background:
- Globalization of seafood markets creates nutritional insecurity concerns, particularly for developing nations exporting nutrient-dense products.
- Imported seafood may mitigate nutritional losses, but the nutritional value of low-price imports remains questionable for developing countries.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of global seafood trade on nutritional affordability in developing versus developed countries.
- To analyze nutrient density per dollar in imported seafood across different development statuses.
Main Methods:
- Construction of a dataset linking country-level seafood trade flows with product-specific nutrient data.
- Comparative analysis of nutrient density per dollar for imported seafood, considering macronutrients and micronutrients.
- Stratification of analysis by six distinct classifications of country development status.
Main Results:
- Developing countries consistently secure greater nutritional value per dollar in imported seafood compared to developed countries.
- This nutritional advantage is partly explained by differences in non-nutritional attributes of imported seafood, such as processing and product form.
- The study examined three macronutrients and six micronutrients.
Conclusions:
- Imported seafood offers a significant nutritional bargain for developing countries, challenging initial concerns about nutritional insecurity from trade.
- Differences in seafood product characteristics, beyond just price, play a crucial role in determining nutritional affordability in international trade.
- Policy implications for food security and trade strategies can be informed by these findings.
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