Publish Date: September 2026
Updated Tariff & Recession Risk Analysis and Forecasts
The 2026 Seafood Processing Market Report covers the $14.7 billion industry which operates with a fragmented competitive structure reflecting regional specialization around coastal areas and port facilities, with processors handling diverse species through specialized processing methods. Market demands increasingly emphasize sustainability certification, product origin transparency, convenient formats requiring minimal preparation, and consistent quality overcoming traditional consumer hesitation around seafood preparation. Processors face complex operational challenges balancing seasonal harvest fluctuations, raw material quality variability, cold chain maintenance, and tariff implications affecting both international seafood sourcing and market access for processed products. Successful companies are differentiating through advanced processing technologies improving yield and shelf life, specialized capabilities handling emerging aquaculture species, sustainability certification programs addressing environmental concerns, and innovative packaging solutions enhancing convenience and freshness perception in a category where sourcing transparency, quality consistency, and increasingly sustainability credentials significantly influence purchasing decisions across retail and foodservice channels.
Seafood Processing Industry Description
Seafood Processing transforms fresh and frozen fish, shellfish, and other aquatic species into various consumer and commercial seafood products. Companies in this industry operate facilities that clean, fillet, shell, preserve, and package seafood for distribution through retail and food service channels. Manufacturing processes include gutting, scaling, shucking, filleting, breading, freezing, smoking, canning, and packaging operations designed to maintain quality and safety of highly perishable products. These businesses create both minimally processed fresh items and value-added products like breaded fish portions, smoked salmon, seafood salads, and prepared entrees, serving markets ranging from grocery stores and restaurants to food manufacturers and institutions, while operating under specialized seafood safety regulations designed to address the unique handling requirements and food safety challenges associated with aquatic food products.
NAICS Code: 3117
Number of Companies: 450
Number of Plants / Facilities: 538
Total Employees: 31,678
Market Size: $14.7 billion
TARIFF IMPACT (Summer 2025 – Download Report for Updated Analysis)
This report has in-depth analysis on the recent US tariff changes on material costs, quantifying import dependencies, tariff exposure rates, and key source countries for the seafood processing sector.
Estimated Tariff Cost: $1.2 billion
Relative Tariff Impact: SEVERE
Seafood Processing Report Format
The 2026 U.S. Seafood Processing Market Report is 63 pages of deep insights into the trends, dynamics, and forecasts shaping the industry. This market report is utilized by professionals to gain a in-depth understanding of the sector for business strategy, planning, forecasting, benchmarking, industry analysis, valuations, identifying organizational inefficiencies, financial analysis, and more.
With more than one hundred industry analyses and data sets covering trends from 2017 to 2025 and forecasts for 2026 and 2030, this report is one of the comprehensive assessments of the industry. The report includes sales & expense trends, detailed breakdown on 26 expenses, financial ratio benchmarks, forecasts, inventory statistics, detailed breakdown of 31 balance sheet items, numerous industry segmentations, industry concentration analysis, material costs analysis, profit margin analysis, state statistics, plant utilization, workforce composition, inflation trend benchmarks, employee pay analysis, revenue per employee trends, and numerous other data sets.
Below are a few page images from the report and check out the table of contents for a complete overview.
Report Table of Contents
Evaluate the table of contents to appreciate why thousands of professionals, bankers, consultants, accountants, and other executives rely on Kentley Insights for data-rich industry insights.
The data source for the report is extensive annual expense, revenue, wage, operational, and economic surveys administered by federal and private institutions and filled out by a majority of companies in the seafood processing sector. Our analysts develop the forecasts utilizing econometric models based on historical statistical analysis, industry trends and dynamics, macroeconomic analysis & forecasts.
1-2 – Market Report Overview & Contents
3 – Market Overview
– Data Sources, Industry Definition & Market Commentary
4 – Market Synopsis – Revenue & Growth
5 – Market Synopsis – Costs & Profitability
SECTION ONE
REVENUE & GROWTH ANALYSIS
7 – Market Size Details
– Industry Revenues, Companies & Facilities
– Trend Analysis 2017-2025
– 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
8 – Growth Benchmarks
– Sales per Company & Plant
– Trend Analysis 2017-2025
– 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
9 – Product Lines Revenue
– Percentage of Revenue from Product Lines
10 – BCG Matrix – Net Income vs. Revenue Growth
– Subsectors vs. Industry
11 – Total Sales by Month & Year
– 2021-2025 Sales per Month
12 – Inventory Value by Month & Year
– Inventory Value per Month for 2021-2025
13 – Months of Inventory
– Months of Inventory per Month for 2021-2025
14 – Sector Revenue by Segments
– Concentration Segments by Top Companies
– Business Size Segments
– Business Structure Segments
15 – Market Size by State
16 – Market Size as a % of State GDP
17 – Sales as a % of State Manufacturing
18 – Market Segmentation by Business Size
19 – Market Segmentation by Business Size
– Business Size Segments – 1-4, 5-9, 10-20, 21-50, 51-100, 101-250, & 250+ employees
– Companies, Facilities, Sales, Employees & Payroll
20 – Segmentation by Concentration (Top 50 Companies)
– Concentration Segments – Top 4, 5-8, 9-20, & 21-50 companies
– Companies, Facilities, Sales, Employees & Payroll
21 – Market Share of Top 50 Companies
22 – Subsector Market Share of Top 50 Companies
23 – Segmentation by Business Structure
– Business Structure Segments – C-Corporations, S-Corporations, Partnerships, & Sole Proprietorships
– Companies, Facilities, Sales, Employees & Payroll
24 – Revenue per Company by State
– Revenue per Company
25 – Revenue per Company by Segments
26 – Revenue per Facility by State
27 – Revenue per Facility by Segment
– Business Size, Concentration, & Structure
28 – Subsector Growth
– Sales and 5-Year Growth
29 – Subsector Statistics
– Sales per Company & Facility, and 5-Year Growth
30 – Consolidation Analysis
– 5-Year Growth of Companies & Locations
31 – Employment Consolidation Analysis
– 5-Year Growth of Employee Statistics
32 – Subsector Consolidation Analysis
– Number of Companies & Facilities
– 5-Year Growth
33 – Subsector Consolidation Analysis
– Facilities per Company
– Employees per Company
– 5-Year Growth
SECTION TWO
COST, CAPITAL & PROFIT BENCHMARKS
35 – Profitability & Financial Ratio Analysis
– Percent of Companies that are Profitable
– Average Net Income as a Percent of Revenue
– 10 of the Top Financial Ratios
– Assets and Liabilities indexed to industry revenue at 100
– Current & Non-Current Assets: 14 Categories
– Short-term, Long-term Liabilities, & Net Worth: 13 Categories
37 – OPEX
– Industry OPEX
– Revenue vs. OPEX Growth
– OPEX as a Percent of Revenue
– Trend Analysis 2017-2025
– 2026 & 2030 Forecasts
38 – OPEX by Company & Plant
– OPEX per Company & Facility
– Revenue vs. Expenses Growth per Plant
– Trend Analysis & Forecasts
Page 39 – OPEX Detail
– Employee Expenses: payroll, insurance, pension, defined contribution plans, fringe benefits, temps
– Cost of Materials: materials, parts, containers, packaging, cost of resale, electricity and fuels, contract work
– Buildings and Equipment: capex for equipment, rental or lease for equipment, capex for buildings and structures, rental or leases, repair and maintenance
– Other Operating Expenses: professional and technical services, IT software and hardware, data processing and communications, advertising, refuse removal, taxes and license fees, other
-Inventory Breakdown: finished goods, work-in-progress, materials and supplies
40 – Production Material Costs & Tariff Analysis
– Top Production Material Costs Breakdown
– Industry & Material Tariff Analysis – % of costs, import %, tariff costs, source countries
41 – Producer Pricing Index
– Annual PPI – Indexed to 2006
– Trend Analysis & Forecasts
– Monthly PPI Figures for the Past 4 Years
42 – Plant Utilization & Hours
– Plant Utilization Rate
– Plant Operational Hours per Week
– 2022-2025 Historical Figures by Quarter
43 – Reasons for Non-Full Production
– 7 Categories Quarterly Survey Results for Past 2 Years
44 – Productivity & Employment
– Revenue per Employee
– Total Employees
– Employees per Company
– Trend Analysis & Forecasts
45 – Employee Productivity by Segments
– Business Size, Concentration, & Structure
46 – Employee Productivity by State
47 –Subsector Sales & Payroll per Employee
– Absolute & 5-Year Growth
48 – Payroll Analysis
– Payroll per Employee, Company & Plant
– Trend Analysis & Forecasts
49 – Payroll per Company by Segments
50 – Payroll per Plant by Segments
51 – Payroll per Employee by Segments
52 – Payroll per Employee by State
53 – Organizational Composition
– % of Employees for 27 Job Categories
– Management & Finance
– Sales & Marketing
– Technology, Engineering, Science
– Service, Support & Training
– Operations
54 – Job Categorization Pay Ranges
– Management & Finance
– Sales, Service & Marketing
– Operations
– Pay Bands – Bottom 10% & 25%, Mean, Top 25% & 10%
55 – Top 20 Jobs Breakdown
56 – Top 20 Jobs Pay
57 – Employees per Company by Segments
58 – Employees per Plant by Segments
59 – Facilities per Company by Segments
60 – Total Employment by State
61 – Population to Every Employee by State
62 – Employees per Facility by State
63 – Overview of Kentley Insights
Download a Sample Report
Below is a free sample report download. The 2026 Seafood Processing Market Report has the same layout and data sets as the sample report.
Product Lines, Materials, and Jobs Covered in Report
PRODUCT LINES
Prepared frozen fish
Prepared frozen shellfish
Prepared fresh fish and other fresh seafood
Seafood canning
Other prepared fresh and frozen seafood
Seafood product preparation and packaging, nsk, total
MATERIAL COST CATEGORIES
Unprocessed finfish and shellfish
Prepared fresh and frozen fish and seafood, including fish meal and surimi
Materials, ingredients, containers, and supplies, nsk
Cost of all other materials and components, parts, containers, and supplies consumed
Paper and paperboard products
Fats and oils, all types
Metal containers, cans, lids, ends, and parts
INDUSTRY JOBS ANALYZED
Butchers and Other Meat, Poultry, and Fish Processing Workers
Laborers and Material Movers, Hand
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
Driver/Sales Workers and Truck Drivers
Building Cleaning Workers
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
Industrial Machinery Installation, Repair, and Maintenance Workers
General and Operations Managers
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing
Office Clerks, General
Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
Industrial Production Managers
Cutting Workers
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
Miscellaneous Agricultural Workers
About Kentley Insights
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