Swordfish:professional buying guide, origins, ICCAT quotas, fresh or frozen, mercury

01

Buying sheet

Imports: FranceAgriMer, foreign trade 2024 (customs). Quotas: Regulation (EU) 2026/249. Sizes: Regulations (EU) 2019/1154 (Mediterranean) and 2017/2107 (North Atlantic). Swordfish does not go through French fish auctions in significant volumes: this page has no seasonality calendar.

02

Why is the swordfish sold in France imported?

Because the French fleet has almost no quota. In the Mediterranean, the EU shares 6,364 tonnes among seven countries, and France has only 109 of them, which can be fished from 1 April to 31 December; in the North Atlantic, the EU quota goes to Spain and Portugal, the other countries having only a small share reserved for bycatch. Imports, for their part, have melted away over ten years: about 6,000 tonnes in 2011, about 2,000 tonnes a year since 2016 (FranceAgriMer).

Mediterranean swordfish is covered by an ICCAT recovery plan from 2017 to 2031: the EU regulation transposing it speaks of a stock "overexploited over the last thirty years". Hence the winter closure, the minimum size and the quotas by country.

03

Fresh or frozen, whole or as fillets?

FranceAgriMer, foreign trade 2024 (customs), "Espadon" annex. "Fillets" is the customs category: on price lists, the terms are loins, steaks and portions.

• Fresh dominates: more than 70% of the volumes imported in 2024. It arrives mostly as fillets, from Chile, Sri Lanka and Spain.
• Frozen costs markedly less at import; it comes from Spain, Vietnam and India.
• The mention "defrosted" is mandatory when a frozen swordfish is sold defrosted, except for the exceptions set by Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 (product defrosted before cooking, smoking or salting, for example). A "fresh" product that is too cheap should raise the question.

04

Swordfish and mercury: what Anses and the regulations say

Swordfish is a large predator that accumulates methylmercury. The EU sets a maximum mercury level of 1.0 mg/kg for its flesh, against 0.50 mg/kg for most fish (Regulation (EU) 2023/915): a batch that exceeds it cannot be placed on the market.

05

How to judge fresh swordfish?

• The flesh: firm, shiny, with no exudate in the packaging and no dark or soft area. These are trade clues: the date and the label are what count.
• The label: commercial name, scientific name Xiphias gladius, catch area and gear (Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013).
• Raw service: swordfish served as carpaccio or tartare falls under the freezing rule for fishery products eaten raw (-20 °C for 24 hours or -35 °C for 15 hours, Regulation (EC) 853/2004), unless the competent authority grants a derogation. Ask your supplier.

06

What to replace swordfish with?

07

What makes the price of swordfish move?

Swordfish does not go through the fish auctions in significant volumes: FranceAgriMer publishes no first-sale price for it. The public benchmark is the average import price, taken from customs data.

Year 2024. FranceAgriMer, foreign trade in fishery and aquaculture products (customs). These are average import prices, not auction prices, and not the price paid to your supplier: transport, cutting and margin are added to them.

In 2024, imported volumes fell by 2% and their value by 9% compared with 2023: the average import price therefore went down. The spread of almost €4/kg between fresh fillets from Chile and from Sri Lanka does not necessarily measure quality: the customs publication details neither the cut nor the mode of transport. Frozen remains about a third cheaper than fresh fillets.

• The presentation: fresh or frozen, whole or as fillets, loin or steak: the differences often exceed those between origins.
• The origin: each country of origin has its own average price, and the label must name the catch area.
• Quotas: set every year by ICCAT and the EU, they cap European supply; in the Mediterranean, fishing is closed from 1 January to 31 March.
• Freshness: fresh swordfish from far away has already travelled; ask for the catch date and compare offers at equal freshness.