India rose from seventh to third among wild-fish catchers
Wild catch of fish and seafood, yearly averages, 2002–04 vs 2022–24, the eight largest catchers of 2002–04.
- 1. Brazil has all but caught the US in farm exports
- 2. Brazil exports more chicken than the US and EU combined
- 3. India now ships over a third of world rice exports
- 4. Russia now exports twice as much wheat as the US
- 5. Egypt exports more fresh oranges than any other country
- 6. China buys three in ten of the world's beef imports
- 7. Farmed seafood now outweighs the wild catch
- 8. Spanish olive oil mill prices are back at 2021 levels
- 9. Ukraine sells a fifth less grain than before the war
- 10. Brazil overtook the US as the world's top cotton exporter
- 11. Laos now mines more potash than Israel or Jordan
- 12. India now grows more rice than China
- 13. Côte d'Ivoire grows more cashews than India
- 14. Indonesia set to use more palm oil than it exports
- 15. Mato Grosso grows more soy than China and India combined
- 16. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia
- 17. Vietnam now drinks more coffee than Russia
- 18. Nigeria now eats more rice than Japan
- 19. Ecuador is now the world's second-biggest cocoa bean exporter
- 20. Mexico, home of maize, imports more of it than anyone
- 21. Cuba now imports more raw sugar than it exports
- 22. Japan's fish catch fell to a quarter of its peak
- 23. Chicken gives Egyptians twice the calories beef does
- 24. Brazil overtook the US as the world's top beef producer
- 25. Sub-Saharan Africa doubled its grain, mostly by farming more land
- 26. Pakistan now imports about as much cotton as it grows
- 27. Malaysia's world palm oil share fell from 37% to 25%
- 28. Indonesia now uses a sixth less rice per person
- 29. 12 countries switched to farming more fish than they catch
- 30. India rose from seventh to third among wild-fish catchers
India's place in the world's wild catch in 2022–24, up from 7th in 2002–04: 6.0 Mt a year, up from 3.6 Mt.
the world's wild catch a year in 2022–24, flat against 90.4 Mt, while Peru (−41%), Chile (−49%) and Japan (−35%) caught less.
caught each year by India, Indonesia and Viet Nam, up from 10.1 Mt, while Peru, Chile and Japan lost 7.0 Mt.
the numbers & method
| 2002–04 (Mt) | 2022–24 (Mt) | |
|---|---|---|
| China | 14.3 | 13.0 |
| Peru | 8.2 | 4.8 |
| United States | 4.9 | 4.0 |
| Indonesia | 4.6 | 7.6 |
| Japan | 4.5 | 2.9 |
| Chile | 4.3 | 2.2 |
| India | 3.6 | 6.0 |
| Russia | 3.2 | 5.1 |
Claim types Fact · Estimate · Interpretation
FAO FishStat Global Production, release 2026.1.0 (March 2026), capture production of aquatic animals (fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic animals, marine and inland waters; aquatic plants excluded), tonnes live weight, read from the FAO FishStat Global Production file via the progrss vault. Live spot-check on the World Bank API (WDI ER.FSH.CAPT.MT, FAO data, last updated 8 Oct 2026, which adds aquatic plants): India 2024 = 6,282,409 t animals + 74,083 t plants = WDI 6,356,492 t; Chile 2024 = 2,099,821 + 427,966 = WDI 2,527,787 t. Licence: CC BY 4.0 under the FAO Database Terms of Use (non-commercial; plates only). Three-year averages (2002–04 and 2022–24) smooth single-year swings such as Peru's anchoveta in the 2023 El Niño year; India's catch is above Peru's in each of 2022, 2023 and 2024. Ranks are among the eight countries shown (the eight largest catchers of 2002–04); in the full table of 215 countries India is 7th in 2002–04 and 3rd in 2022–24, Viet Nam rose from 13th to 7th, and Japan and Chile are 8th and 10th in 2022–24. World totals are progrss sums of all reporting countries: 90.40 and 90.71 Mt. India's catch includes inland waters; FAO marks 96–97% of India's 2022–24 tonnes as non-official (mostly imputed), against official reports in 2002–04; Viet Nam's 2022–23 tonnes are about 65% non-official. On WDI, India's 2022–24 average is 6.02 Mt against Peru 4.88 and Russia 5.14: third there too. Interpretation: takeaway 3 (India 3.61 → 5.96, Indonesia 4.57 → 7.64, Viet Nam 1.87 → 3.44 Mt). Related plate: 235 (Japan's catch fell to a quarter of its peak).
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