I am looking for the top ten countries in the world in terms of the
consumption of clams.

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Clarification of Question by shuckerman-ga on 27 Nov 2004 16:47 PST

Although US exports of seafood is intersting to me, it does not answer
the question.  Clams are native to many countries.  I need to know the
top 20 countries in terms of the country's consumption of clams, not
its importation of clams.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 30 Nov 2004 16:13 PST

shuckerman-ga,

I found a table with the production of clams (along with cockles and
arkshells) listed by country for the year 2002.

Of course, production is not the same as domestic consumption, but it
seems reasonable to suppose that the countries that produce the most
clams also eat the most.

By the way, China tops the list...no one else is even close.  

Would that information meet your needs as an answer to your question?

Let me know.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by shuckerman-ga on 30 Nov 2004 17:36 PST

Yes that would be fine.

Hello shuckerman-ga,


Thanks for giving me the go-ahead on this.  As a frequent visitor to
Chesapeake Bay, I have, shall we say, a personal interest in clam
consumption, so I'm more than happy to provide you the data you asked
about.

The Food and Agricultural Organization maintains an extensive database
of food statistics for an astounding array of commodities.

First off, let's get right to the clams (and cockles and arkshells!). 
The top ten countries reported by FAO for 2002 are:


1.  China..........3,205,214

2.  US...............380,039

3.  Thailand..........95,983

4.  Japan.............85,037

5.  Indonesia.........83,500

6.  Malaysia..........81,966

7.  Italy.............67,110

8.  Korea.............60,281

9.  Venezuela.........44,987

10. Canada............33,192


Now, you're probably asking -- as I did -- "Canada is 33,192 *what*...?"

Amazingly.  Infuriatingly.  Stupidly.  The FAO database doesn't say. 
Despite a lot of searching through their Help section, Symbols and
Abbreviations, Citations, etc -- there is nothing to indicate with
absolute certainty the units associated with these figures.

However, based on a look at data from other seafood commodities, I'm
quite confident that these figures are in metric tonnes.  It's hard to
believe, though, that they just won't tell us that!


As I said, the data comes from FAO, or more precisely, the FAOStat
system, which can be accessed at:



http://apps.fao.org/faostat/default.jsp?language=EN&version=ext&hasbulk=0



You can reproduce the full dataset that I used by doing the following:


--Click on the link that says "Fisheries"

--On the resulting page, click on the link for "Fishes, crustaceans,
molluscs and misc.aquatic animals"

--On the series of menus that appear, make the following selections:

Countries:  Choose the single listing for "World>" near the very
bottom of the pull-down list

Item:  Choose "clams, cockles, arkshell"

Fishing Area:  Choose "ALL FISHING AREAS"

Year:  Choose "2002"


--Lastly, click on "Submit to Database" to create the table of clam
statistics from all countries that reported.



This should provide you all the details for your query.

However, before rating this answer, please let me know if there's
anything else you need.  Just post a Request for Clarification, and
I'll be happy to assist you further.


Cheers,

pafalafa-ga



search strategy:  Made use of bookmarked FAOStats site

The US Dept of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service has an
interactive website providing import/export data on specific products,
including clams.
I did two sets of data:  a world total and all countries.  I noted the
clam data is for exports only; clam data was not listed as a separate
category for imports.

Please click on the links to view the following interactive charts:
By country --
http://www.fas.usda.gov/ustrdscripts/USReport.exe

To create your own chart data --
http://www.fas.usda.gov/ustrade/USTExFAS.asp?QI=

Finally, some miscellaneous pieces of data:

Northeast Surf Clams 
Conditions in the Atlantic surf clam fishery are marked by a
combination of predictability and uncertainty.
There?s been an unmistakable decline from 1999, when scientists
conducted a stock survey and estimated the biomass in federal waters
was approximately 1.5 million metric tons. In 2002, a repeat of the
survey indicated a biomass of only 800,000 metric tons.
Short-term predictions offered earlier this year indicate further
declines ? to 780,000 metric tons in 2004 and 714,000 metric tons in
2005.
http://www.nationalfisherman.com/magazine-content/market-updates.asp


US dept of agriculture foreign agriculture service
FISHERY PRODUCTS MARKET NEWS
U.S. SEAFOOD EXPORTS UP IN 2003 
U.S. exports of seafood products in 2003 were valued at $3.15 billion,
an increase of about $108 million (3.6 percent) compared with 2002. .
. . clam (down $2.3 million),
http://www.fas.usda.gov/ffpd/Fish-Circular/Market_News/market.html


Meadow Wolf

Sorry, I did not realize you cannot link directly to the chart I
created by country.  But it is very easy to recreate it.  Please go to
this link --
the same one to create your own data chart --
http://www.fas.usda.gov/ustrade/USTExFAS.asp?QI=

Then, make the selections you want in each box.  I chose "select all
countries", then, in the products box, scrolled down until I found
"clams" under "Fish products".

Meadow Wolf