UK’s appetite for salmon grows
UK retail sales of chilled salmon increased by 4.9% in value last year to £1.1 billion, with the volume of salmon sold increasing by 7.8% to 63,300 tonnes.
Shops sold almost 200,000 tonnes of chilled fish worth £2.6 bn in 2021, and salmon from Scotland and elsewhere accounted for more than 42% of that, according to information from NielsenIQ that is included in a quarterly bulletin from industry trade body Salmon Scotland.
The volume of salmon harvested in Scotland in 2021 was 188,000 gutted weight tonnes, an increase of 17% from 2020.
Export value up
The bulletin also further analyses UK Government export figures, revealing the total volume of Scottish salmon sold abroad was 97,835 tonnes in 2021. That’s 36% higher more than the amount exported in 2020, when Covid severely limited access to markets such as China and the United States, and 4% higher than the volume exported in 2019.
However, the £614m earned by exports in 2021 still lagged pre-pandemic rates, being 1% lower than in 2019.
Global success
Salmon Scotland chief executive Tavish Scott said: “The rise in consumption here in the UK shows that more consumers recognise the health values and unrivalled quality of Scottish salmon, with year-on-year improvements to the way producers are rearing and feeding their stock which meet the highest welfare standards.
“Our industry is also a global success story, with Scottish salmon comfortably the UK’s biggest food export.
New markets
“The quality of Scotland’s produce is widely recognised in our largest markets of France, the USA and China, and we are also seeing sharp increases in newer international markets.
“All this is testament to the hard work and dedication of Scotland’s farmers, who produce a world-leading product that makes a massive contribution to our economy and people’s health.”
