European pilchard (sardine): production by country

European pilchard (sardine): the total weight produced in each country in a year, in tonnes. Which countries produce the most?

#1 Morocco (544K t), #2 Mauritania (141K t), #3 Portugal (97.8K t). The last place is Bulgaria (0.015 t).

How to read this number

The total weight, in tonnes, of the crop or product harvested or produced in the country in a year, as reported to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Item: European pilchard (sardine). The weight is wild catch and farmed production added together, counted as live weight: the whole animal as it was caught or harvested, before it is gutted, shelled or processed. It is more than the weight of the food you buy.

Only countries with a production above zero are listed. Countries that grow or make none, or that have no FAO figure, are not ranked (they are not counted as zero). Many figures, especially for small countries, are estimated by the FAO, so small differences between countries are not reliable. Weather and harvests change the amounts from year to year.

  • Countries listed: 28 (of 193)
  • Data years: 2023–2024 (differs by country)
  • 26 countries use 2024 data

Map

Ranking table

Sorted from the highest value

RankCountryEuropean pilchard (sardine): productionYearBar
1 Morocco 543,750 t 2024
2 Mauritania 140,679 t 2024
3 Portugal 97,804 t 2024
4 Spain 33,942 t 2024
5 Algeria 31,205 t 2024
6 Croatia 20,112 t 2024
7 France 18,998 t 2024
8 Türkiye 17,818 t 2024
9 Netherlands 11,220 t 2024
10 United Kingdom 10,078 t 2024
11 Tunisia 9,354 t 2024
12 Georgia 8,000 t 2024
13 Italy 7,705 t 2024
14 Greece 5,569 t 2024
15 Russia 4,563 t 2024
16 Belize 4,400 t 2024
17 Ireland 3,154 t 2024
18 Lithuania 763 t 2024
19 Senegal 608 t 2024
20 Albania 549 t 2024
21 Montenegro 252 t 2024
22 Poland 49 t 2024
23 Denmark 9 t 2024
24 Sweden 4 t 2023
25= Norway 1 t 2024
25= Slovenia 1 t 2024
27 Cyprus 1 t 2024
28 Bulgaria 0 t 2023

Each value is the latest year available for that country (see the Year column), so the years can differ from country to country.

Data is available for 28 of 193 countries. The rest are not listed.

Source: FAO. 2026. FishStat: Global production by production source. In: FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division [online]. Rome. Updated 2026. Accessed on 05 November 2026. https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/collection/global_production Licence: CC-BY-4.0. Processed by this site. fao.org/fishery

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