Lorient fish auction:Keroman, its species, its seasons and how to get fish delivered

01

The Lorient fish auction in figures

Source: FranceAgriMer, sales declared at fish auctions in 2024.

In 2024, Lorient fell just behind Le Guilvinec by value: €44.45 million against €44.55 million, a gap of less than €100,000. The official ranking only counts French vessels. Yet Lorient is the fish auction where foreign vessels, mostly Spanish, weigh the most: adding their sales, Lorient reaches 11,861 tonnes and €51.2 million, and moves back to second place in France behind Boulogne-sur-Mer, by volume and by value (editorial team's calculation from FranceAgriMer data).

The long-term trend is downward: 18,735 tonnes sold by French vessels in 2015, 9,760 in 2024. The year 2024 nonetheless marks a 7% recovery on 2023.

02

Which species can you find in Lorient?

Source: FranceAgriMer, 2024 data; shares and ranks calculated by the editorial team on the total of French fish auctions (French vessels).

Lorient has two faces. On one side, the inshore fishery for langoustine, sea bass, Dover sole and pollack, around Groix and Belle-Île. On the other, the offshore fishery of the deep sea and the open ocean: ling, saithe, black scabbardfish, hake, monkfish, often intended for filleting. Nationally, foreign vessels mostly sell ling and blue ling, two offshore species for which Lorient is the main market.

03

When to buy what? The calendar of the leading species

The calendar marks the months of high landings, read from the monthly sales of all French fish auctions in 2024.

Langoustine is fished all year round, but May opens the peak season in Lorient. Its price moves against volumes: in 2024, the national average price was around €10 to €12/kg in spring, then around €19/kg from August to November and €22/kg in December. For blue ling, the gap is even sharper: more than €5/kg in January, when landings are almost nil, against about €2/kg from March to July.

04

How does the sale work?

At Keroman, the computerised sale replaced open-outcry selling long ago. Buyers can bid remotely, over the Internet, on all sales (Lorient Keroman).

• The inshore sale, from 4 am (3:30 am on days of heavy landings). Gillnetters and line fishers land in the afternoon and evening, from 2 pm to 11 pm, trawlers from midnight to 4 am. The lots go by on two parallel conveyors; the auction is descending (Dutch auction) and lasts on average less than ten seconds.
• The offshore sale, every morning from Monday to Friday, from 5:45 am. It is held essentially by catalogue and mainly remotely, in lots of 200 to 500 kilos.

Live langoustine. Inshore trawlers land during the night and the inshore sale starts at 4 am: the langoustine is sold a few hours after landing. Lorient presents itself as the leading port for landings of live langoustine.

Since 2007, the port has belonged to the Brittany Region, which has entrusted its management to the SEM Lorient-Keroman, whose majority shareholder is Lorient Agglomération. The SEM has operated the port since 1993 and provides its services: landing, sorting, lotting, sale, then invoicing and collection. According to Lorient Keroman, the fish auction has 240 regular buyers, including about fifty fish merchants (mareyeurs) and more than 100 fishmongers from all over western France, and 275 companies are based on the port.

05

The fish merchants of Keroman

Around the fish auction, fish merchanting companies buy, sort, fillet, pack and ship; others process. The Keroman hub handles about 80,000 tonnes of seafood a year, far more than the auction sales alone: on top of the port's landings come the direct purchases of fish merchants and processors (Lorient Keroman). Filleting is a recognised skill there: most products are filleted or peeled before being shipped.

Most fish merchants send a price list to their customers, with the day's species, size grades and prices. The price list guide explains how to read it.

We do not publish a list of fish merchants. Company profiles will come with their agreement.

06

How to get fish delivered from Lorient?

For an importer, the pattern is the same up to departure: the fish merchant prepares, and the freight forwarder takes over to the airport. A page dedicated to export is planned in our English section.