The FAO Fish Price Index (FPI) is regularly published in GLOBEFISH publications and in the FAO Food Outlook, although the index has not yet been included in the official FAO Food Price Index because of different methodologies. Starting from 2011 for the first time, fish and fishery product are included in the annual OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook publication.

Currently the index includes seafood imports to three markets (EU, Japan and USA) and six major species groupings (salmon, whitefish, other fish, crustaceans, small pelagics, and tuna).

The fish price index (FPI) relies on trade statistics because seafood is heavily traded internationally, exposing non-traded seafood to price competition from imports and exports. Easily updated trade data can thus proxy for domestic seafood prices that are difficult to observe in many regions and costly to update with global coverage. Calculations of the extent of price competition in different countries support the plausibility of reliance on trade data. Overall, the FPI shows less volatility and fewer price spikes than other food price indices including oils, cereals, and dairy.

The full article, which contains also the technical background and the calculation method of the FPI can be found here.