Exports strong but value down 31% for Norway salmon
Norway is continuing to export almost as much salmon as it did last year despite problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Norwegian Seafood Council said today.
But a combination of reduced prices and a weak krone meant that the value of whole fresh salmon exported last week fell by 31% year on year when converted to euros.
Norway, the world’s biggest Atlantic salmon producer, exported 16,092 tonnes of salmon last week at an average export price for fresh whole salmon of NOK 55.92.
Price trend flattening
This price in NOK was 18% lower than the same week last year. Converted to euros, the price was 31% lower at €4.87.
“After a significant fall in prices from week 9, we now see that the price trend for salmon is starting to flatten out,” said Seafood Council analyst Paul Aandahl, who explained that there was a shift in exports towards more processed products.
“This trend has strengthened throughout the corona period (from week 9, beginning February 24). The export of salmon fillet to several of the overseas markets is somewhat better than the export of fresh whole salmon to these markets. For example, we see growth in Japan, Israel and South Korea.”
Exports to Lithuania up 46%
From week 9 to week 17, Norway exported 167,000 tonnes of salmon, just 1,000 tonnes fewer than in the same period in 2019.
For fresh whole salmon, there was a 2% decrease, while fresh fillet increased by 8% and frozen fillet increased by 36%. For frozen whole salmon, there was a decline of 30% during the period. Exports of fresh whole salmon to Asia declined by 6% during the period, while the EU saw a 1% decline.
“The export of salmon to markets that process it for the grocery trade has increased during the corona period,” said Aandahl.
“Poland and the Netherlands increased by 5% each and Lithuania increased by 46%. We also see growth in exports of fresh whole salmon to consumer markets such as the UK by 5% and Spain by 12%.”
