The 2011 Annual Economic Report (AER) on the European Union (EU) fish processing industry provides a comprehensive overview of the latest information available on the sector’s structure and economic performance. The report has been produced by fisheries economists from the JRC and a group of economic experts convened under the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF). In 2009, the fish processing sector in the EU comprised over 3,500 enterprises with fish processing as main activity, accounting for about €25.5 thousand million of turnover and more than €6 thousand million of Gross Added Value (GVA). The fish processing industry employed around 150 thousand people in the whole of Europe. The fish processing industry revealed improvement in terms of turnover in 2009 when compared to 2008, despite the global and sectorial situations. Even after the start of the global financial crisis many countries reported increases in several socioeconomic indicators in 2008, including turnover, net profit and employment. Additionally, and at a first glance at 2010/11, many experts report a better situation than in 2008/9. Overall the sector is suffering from very low margins, which continue to decrease owing essentially to increases in raw materials and energy costs that cannot be translated into price increases due to the retail sector’s high negotiation power. The fish processing enterprises in many Member States seem to be more efficient in reacting to increasing costs than in previous years. In several countries the expectations are positive indicating that total assets are higher than debt. The report also gives statistics about employment and activities of women in this sector.