Frozen Sardine, Mackerel & Horse Mackerel

Whole round frozen pelagics by size grade, glaze and histamine

The pelagic trade is the volume end of frozen fish, and it is bought on size grade, glaze and origin before anything else. Sardine (Sardina pilchardus, HS 0303.53) is sold whole round, block frozen in 10 kg or 20 kg cartons, and graded by count - 6/8, 8/10, 10/12 or 12/16 pieces per kilo - with the larger fish commanding the premium; horse mackerel (Trachurus spp., HS 0303.55) and Atlantic or Pacific mackerel (Scomber spp., HS 0303.54) are graded by weight per piece in the 100-200 g, 200-300 g and 300-500 g bands. Glaze, the protective ice coating, is declared as a percentage and the buyer wants net weight after deglazing, not gross - a 10 kg carton at 10% glaze holds 9 kg of fish. Core temperature on loading is -18°C or colder, and mackerel, as a scombroid, is tested for histamine (the typical limit is 100 ppm on the mean of samples under EU and Codex practice). The 2025 export declarations under HS 0303 put Morocco at 349k MT at an average USD 1,195/MT and Oman at 305k MT at USD 1,169/MT, and both destination lists are the same story: Morocco sends 50.2k MT to Cote d'Ivoire at USD 1,274, 47.2k MT to Ghana at USD 1,469, 38.9k MT to Mali at USD 681 and 11.4k MT to Nigeria; Oman sends 40.0k MT to Egypt at USD 596, 22.8k MT to Cote d'Ivoire, 18.4k MT to Ghana, 16.9k MT to Bangladesh and 15.4k MT to Benin. Mauritania, the other big Atlantic pelagic source, does not report its trade, so its volumes are seen only in the importers' books.

The buyer is an importer with a cold store at Tema, Abidjan, Lagos or Alexandria who sells cartons on to wholesalers and the wet market, and the number that matters is landed cost per net kilo at the size grade the market takes - West Africa wants the larger sardine and horse mackerel, Egypt takes the smaller sardine and the Omani Indian mackerel at a lower price. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers whole round frozen sardine, mackerel and horse mackerel from Mauritanian, Omani, Pakistani and Indian packers, and mackerel and horse mackerel from Moroccan packers (Morocco has suspended frozen sardine exports since February 2026), against a plant health certificate, a catch certificate where the destination requires one, and a surveyor's report on size grade, glaze, net weight and core temperature at stuffing. Every lot is species-declared and certifiable as halal by the destination's accepted certifier; the seafood book is fish and shrimp only, with no crab, lobster, oysters, other shellfish or molluscs, and a mixed-species container is never on offer. Cargo moves in 40-ft high-cube reefer containers of about 25-27 MT set at -18°C or colder, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms, with reefer freight quoted through the lines and forwarders - this is not a chartering trade, and LaycanDesk, our chartering desk, is not the point here. Send the species, size grade, glaze basis, carton weight and discharge port and we will work an origin and a price per net kilo to it.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.