Dry Packaged Scallop Market

Key data points: Market size in 2027 = $3.7 billion and 2035 = $6.1 billion, growth forecast = 5.3% annually for the next 8 years. Scroll below to get more insights. This market report covers trends, opportunities and forecasts in dry packaged scallop market to 2035 by species (sea scallops, bay scallops, and diver scallops), form (fresh-chilled, frozen, and dried), end use (food-service, food processing/industrial, and household/ retail), and region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World) Dry Packaged Scallop Market The future of the global dry packaged scallop market looks promising with opportunities in the food-service, food processing/industrial, and household/ retail markets. The global dry packaged scallop market is expected to reach an estimated $6.1 billion by 2035 from $3.7 billion in 2027 with a CAGR of 5.3% from 2027 to 2035. The major drivers for this market are the increasing demand for convenient seafood products, the rising preference for frozen and packaged scallops, and the growing use in restaurants hotels and catering. • Lucintel forecasts that, within the species category, sea scallop will remain the largest segment over the forecast period due to the high commercial demand and widespread consumption of sea scallops. • Within the end use category, food-service will remain the largest segment over the forecast period due to increasing demand from restaurants and catering services. • In terms of regions, North America is expected to witness the highest growth over the forecast period due to the growing seafood consumption and expanding aquaculture industry. Gain valuable insights for your business decisions with our comprehensive 150+ page report. Sample figures with some insights are shown below. Emerging Trends in Dry Packaged Scallop Market The dry packaged scallop trade will shift from Japan-China dependent supply chains to more diversified sourcing and value added traceable scallop positioning between 2024 and 2026. Based on the latest market assessment by Lucintel, geopolitical trade risks and quality certification are the key differentiating factors between strong resilient suppliers and exposed single country exporters. • Geopolitical Supply Chain Diversification: Japan began to export scallops to other countries after China imposed an import ban on scallops in August 2023. Japan only restarted its scallop trade with China twice in 2025, and exported just 6 tons. This pattern of supply chain diversification will encourage major scallop exporting countries to develop trading in multiple countries instead of exporting to a single buyer country. • Radioactive and Food Safety Certification: Chinese customs now require Japanese scallops to be accompanied by certificates, health and cold chain records, and to undergo laboratory testing of cesium levels that have to be below certain limits. This will cause a significant increase in the cost of compliance, and trade will continue to normalize even with an improvement in diplomatic relations. • Premium Untreated Product Positioning: Scallop products advertised as "dry" distinguish themselves from "wet" processed products, by not using additives of water and/or chemical treatments. This premium differentiation will create an even greater price disparity in dry processed scallop products versus wet scallop products across retail and food service market outlets. • Direct To Consumer Retail Expansion: The food service distribution model is being disrupted by retail stores who are now directly selling dried and frozen scallops to consumers using same day delivery and curb side pickup . This will increase scallop consumption in mainstream grocery market. • Traceability and Origin Verification: Customers are looking for documents showing fishing area coordinates and cold chain temperature logs for more cross border shipments that are under more regulatory scrutiny. The cost will continue to favor larger exporters with better documentation systems over smaller, uncertified producers. The dry packed scallop trade is becoming more fragmented geographically and more thorough for certification and traceability. Suppliers seeking to diversify their business beyond a single market dependence while meeting increasingly stringent documentation standards will win over the competition that is still using the trade patterns that were prevalent before 2023. Recent Developments in the Dry Packaged Scallop Market Analyses of dry packed scallop market trends show that through 2024 to 2026 the administration of trades agreements, rather than announcements by individual corporations, determined the shape of supply. The latest market assessment by Lucintel shows that of all the possible factors, the resumption of Japan-China trade will have the most significant market disruption. • Trade Resumption Agreement: In May of 2025, China and Japan reached a government level agreement to resume trade that requires the restart of scallop exports. This agreement resulted in the first shipment since China instituted an import ban on scallops in August of 2023. The agreement re-opened China's market to scallop exports by Japan, but full trade normalization will take time. • Facility Registration Bottleneck: According to the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, as of the announcement of the trade resumption in November of 2025, only three of 697 Japanese export facility applications had been approved. For Japanese exporters, the registration of export facilities will constrain trade normalization. • Strict Radioactive Testing Protocol: In addition to mandatory testing, Chinese Customs has established a new requirement for all shipments of Japanese shellfish to document the fishing area and cold chain records and for the shipments to test below 50 becquerels per kilogram for the combined cesium-134 and cesium-137. This new requirement adds significant cost and time to every cross-border shipment. • Global Trade Volume Growth: Between June 2024 and May 2025, import volumes of dried scallops rose by 88% on a global scale, with China, Japan, and Hong Kong the top three exporting countries over that period. This growth demonstrates that the other markets can sustain the disruption to the China-Japan trade in one major bilateral trade relation. • Expanding Retail Distribution: Some major U.S. buyers are offering more delivery and pickup options for frozen and dried scallops from Japanese and U.S. vendors. This growth in the retail channel means scallops can be available to a wider market beyond restaurants. Rather than market consolidation through mergers and acquisitions, trade diplomacy and rules compliance define the market landscape. Suppliers who are able to thoughtfully navigate China’s certification and trade policies, while at the same time breaking into other markets, will control the lion's share of new market opportunities for this commodity for the next ten years. Strategic Growth Opportunities in the Dry Packaged Scallop Market The period between 2024 and 2026 offers increased potential for the dry packaged scallop trade as supply needs to be diversified due to geopolitical disruptions and increased consumer demand for scallops outside traditional foodservice markets. Per Lucintel’s current market report, exporters who seek to avoid single market dependence have the best business opportunities. • Alternative Market Geographic Expansion: As seen with Japan after the August 2023 import ban, exporters can create resilient demand for their goods by looking outside of traditional one-on-one trade relationships. Suppliers who establish trade relationships with North America, Southeast Asia, and Europe can mitigate the risk of disrupted single market trade in the future. • Premium Untreated Product Certification: There is a clear consumer preference for dry scallops that are untreated and phosphate-free, thus there is demand for certifiable purity. Establishing dedicated dry-processing and certification centers can allow suppliers to command prices above the competition who continue to offer wet-processed scallops. • Direct-to-Consumer Retail Channels: Major retailers offering curbside and same-day delivery for frozen scallops indicates a large demand for scallop products that traditionally are only sold to restaurants. Constructing packaging and distribution systems tailored for the retail sector can allow suppliers to forgo the volatility of the foodservice market. • Traceability and Compliance Services: Cold-chain supply chain documentation will soon be a common requirement for export of premium seafood. Chinese customs require fishing area location data and supply chain cold chain documentation. Suppliers building strong tracing compliance documentation systems are able to meet demand for entry into new markets. • Value-Added Processing Formats: Increasing import volumes by 88% from June 2024 to May 2025 indicate opportunities beyond traditional whole dried scallop products in the convenience and/or flavored format. Differentiating from the bulk trading of commodities is a main focus for processors, and value-added product lines achieve this. The reliance on any one bilateral trading relationship is significantly less important for the growth in the trade of dried scallops and more related to market diversification and verified quality. Processors that combine a premium position with significant traceability will outpace competitors in high risk, single-market geopolitical situations. Dry Packaged Scallop Market Drivers and Challenges Increasing demand for dry packaged scallops due to the growth of premium seafood consumption means the exporters’ flexibility is tested by geopolitical trade barriers and certifications. Per Lucintel, these challenges will determine which suppliers will sustain profitability through 2030. Drivers • Increasing Demand for Premium Seafood: Preference for higher quality seafood products at restaurants is increasing and is the main reason for an explosion in retail outlets for dried scallops. This will create a permanent increase in demand across the market. Trade diploroacy is improving: Japan and China signed a deal in May 2025 that ended the two year trade embargo on dried scallops. • Premium Product Positioning: Some retail chain stores separate scallops that are free of phosphates and other additives from wet processed scallops, and charge premium prices for them. • Direct-to-Consumer Retail Expansion: Increasing demand for quick delivery option and curbside pickup of frozen and dried scallop products has some major retailers rethinking how their shops support the foodservice supply chain. It is expected that demand will stabilize and, perhaps, even spread to grocery outlets across the country in the next few years. • Investment in Traceability Infrastructure: Exporters develop documentation systems for fishing area coordinates and cold-chain temperature records to meet more specific import regulations. Long term, this infrastructure will benefit large suppliers with comprehensive compliance systems over smaller suppliers. Issues • Regulatory Certification Burden: Challenging radioactive testing thresholds along with multiple certifying documents, especially for Japan-China trade, create significant cost and time burdens for cross-border shipments. • Facility Registration Bottlenecks: Only a few Japanese export facilities have received Chinese approval for the required registration, limiting how quickly trade can return to normal. Exporters that have been overly reliant on China are most exposed to the risks of abrupt import limitations as a result of either geopolitical or environmental factors. Exporters that depend on a single market will continue to be most affected by regulatory certification burden and the risk of single-market dependency. Robust traceability systems will keep exporters competing that are able to diversify their customer base. Suppliers that are able to manage both premium and compliance complexity will outperform competitors that have concentrated trade risk. List of Dry Packaged Scallop Market Companies Companies in the market compete on the basis of product quality offered. Major players in this market focus on expanding their manufacturing facilities, R&D investments, infrastructural development, and leverage integration opportunities across the value chain. Through these strategies dry packaged scallop market companies cater increasing demand, ensure competitive effectiveness, develop innovative products & technologies, reduce production costs, and expand their customer base. Some of the dry packaged scallop market companies profiled in this report include- • Sea Watch International • Pacific Seafood Group • Northern Wind • High Liner Foods • Clearwater Seafoods • Big Blue Ocean • Eastern Fisheries • Blue Harvest Fisheries • American Seafoods Co. • Lund’s Fisheries Dry Packaged Scallop Market by Segment The study includes a forecast for the global dry packaged scallop market by species, form, end use, and region. Dry Packaged Scallop Market by Species [Value ($B) from 2019 to 2035]: • Sea Scallops • Bay Scallops • Diver Scallops Dry Packaged Scallop Market by Form [Value ($B) from 2019 to 2035]: • Fresh-Chilled • Frozen • Dried Dry Packaged Scallop Market by End Use [Value ($B) from 2019 to 2035]: • Food-Service • Food Processing/Industrial • Household/ Retail Dry Packaged Scallop Market by Region [Value ($B) from 2019 to 2035]: • North America • Europe • Asia Pacific • The Rest of the World Country Wise Outlook for the Dry Packaged Scallop Market Dry packed scallop trade has been disrupted and in the process of recovery between the years 2024 to 2026 due to trade restrictions caused by geopolitics reconfiguring supply chains between major scallop producers in Asia and their end markets. Based on Lucintel’s latest assessment, impossible supply and retail distribution networks domestically will be the most important drivers for this market. • United States: East Coast Seafood Inc. is continuing to distribute raw frozen Japanese Hokkaido scallops through major retail outlets including Costco. Simultaneously, there was a huge jump in the imports of dried scallops to the U.S. (88%) during the period from June 2024 to May 2025. It is anticipated that this growing retail and wholesale distribution will sustain the demand for imports of scallops of high quality and frozen in the U.S. through the end of the current decade. • China: After a hiatus of 2 years due to the release of treated water from Fukushima and as a part of the normalization of the trade, China started to import Japanese frozen scallops in November 2025. The first shipment of 6 metric tons of Hokkaido scallops was imported following some strict protocols for cold chain and radioactivity testing. It is anticipated that this will help China regain its position as an important importer of Japanese dried and frozen scallops of high quality. • Germany: European specialty seafood importers will rely on their established supply chains in Asia to fulfill ongoing high quality dried scallop demands from high-end restaurants and specialty retail outlets. This demand will ensure Germany’s reliance on Chinese and Japanese dried scallops for its foodservice and gourmet retail markets. • India: India's premium seafood import infrastructure is improving to meet growing demand. Dried scallops are still considered a minor category within processed seafood imports. India now has the developing capacity for premium dried scallops. • Japan: Shipments of scallops to China have resumed as of November 2025, as confirmed by the Japanese Fisheries Agency. As of the announcement, China only approved 3 of the 697 applications of the required facility registration. This unfinished registration will limit the recovery of Chinese imports of Japanese dried and frozen scallops. Features of the Global Dry Packaged Scallop Market Market Size Estimates: dry packaged scallop market size estimation in terms of value ($B). Trend and Forecast Analysis: Market trends (2019 to 2026) and forecast (2027 to 2035) by various segments and regions. Segmentation Analysis: dry packaged scallop market size by species, form, end use, and region in terms of value ($B). Regional Analysis: dry packaged scallop market breakdown by North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. Growth Opportunities: Analysis of growth opportunities in different species, forms, end uses, and regions for the dry packaged scallop market. Strategic Analysis: This includes M&A, new product development, and competitive landscape of the dry packaged scallop market. Analysis of competitive intensity of the industry based on Porter’s Five Forces model. If you are looking to expand your business in this or adjacent markets, then contact us. We have done hundreds of strategic consulting projects in market entry, opportunity screening, due diligence, supply chain analysis, M & A, and more. This report answers following 11 key questions: Q.1. What are some of the most promising, high-growth opportunities for the dry packaged scallop market by species (sea scallops, bay scallops, and diver scallops), form (fresh-chilled, frozen, and dried), end use (food-service, food processing/industrial, and household/ retail), and region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World)? Q.2. Which segments will grow at a faster pace and why? Q.3. Which region will grow at a faster pace and why? Q.4. What are the key factors affecting market dynamics? What are the key challenges and business risks in this market? Q.5. What are the business risks and competitive threats in this market? Q.6. What are the emerging trends in this market and the reasons behind them? Q.7. What are some of the changing demands of customers in the market? Q.8. What are the new developments in the market? Which companies are leading these developments? Q.9. Who are the major players in this market? What strategic initiatives are key players pursuing for business growth? Q.10. What are some of the competing products in this market and how big of a threat do they pose for loss of market share by material or product substitution? Q.11. What M&A activity has occurred in the last 6 years and what has its impact been on the industry?