With European consumers increasingly challenged by inflation and suffering from reduced purchasing power, just two-thirds of Norway’s farmed salmon exports went to the region in January 2023 – the lowest trade ratio it has posted in any month since 1989.
Consequently, Europe has lost its spot as the Scandinavian country’s top seafood export market, replaced by the United States, which posted a 59 percent upturn in its salmon purchasing from Norway in the month. According to the latest figures from the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC), the U.S. market imported NOK 1.15 billion (USD 111.2 million, EUR 103.6 million) worth of Norwegian seafood in January, an increase of 41 percent year-on-year.
In value terms, it was also the market with the largest growth, buying NOK 338 million (USD 32.7 million, EUR 30.4 million) more seafood in January 2023 year-over-year, despite importing 4 percent – the equivalent of 9,655 metric tons (MT) – less seafood by volume. While the value of Norway’s other seafood species sold to the U.S. market, such as cod and haddock, has decreased, Norway’s U.S. salmon exports increased sharply, with salmon accounting for NOK 344 million (USD 33.2 million, EUR 31 million) in sales, making the U.S. Norway's largest salmon market.
NSC Communications Director Martin Skaug said, generally speaking, salmon prices in overseas markets are higher than for Europe.
“Fresh, whole salmon to the U.S. is largely a niche market for the larger fish, which ends up in the restaurant segment, while exports to Europe are dominated by the retail market. This explains much of the price difference,” Skaug told SeafoodSource.
In addition, the U.S. dollar has strengthened against the euro, Skaug said.
“The price is above all a result of supply and demand. Reduced volume, both from Norway and other salmon-producing nations, largely explains the price development,” he said. “For the U.S. market, we have seen a reduced supply from Chile and Canada, among other things.”
As for whether there any signs that prices could go too high for the U.S. market and subsequently harm consumer interest, Skaug said U.S. demand has generally increased as Covid-related restrictions and fears have subsided.
“We do not expect demand to decline in the U.S., on the contrary, we believe there’s a big potential for growth for the whole seafood category,” he said. “Globally, we expect that China's late reopening will affect demand for salmon. And with fluctuations in supply, the growing demand will probably have quite the effect in 2023.”
The United States was also the biggest growth market for Norwegian crab, followed by Hong Kong and Canada. Norway’s January 2023 volume of live king crab exports to the U.S. amounted to 76 MT – an increase of 104 percent year-on-year.
The export value increased 81 percent to NOK 16 million (USD 1.5 million, EUR 1.4 million). Norway exported a total 157 MT of king crab worth NOK 81 million (USD 7.8 million, EUR 7.3 million) in January, with the volume rising 23 percent and the value climbing 9 percent. The U.S. has looked to Norway to replace king crab it can no longer buy from Russia due to sanctions put in place following the invasion of Ukraine.
Norwegian snow crab exports in January reached 293 MT, valued at NOK 34 million (USD 3.3 million, EUR 3.1 million). The United States was the lead importer, accounting for 45 percent of the total trade.
Due to high market prices, including a record NOK 140 (USD 13.53, EUR 12.61) average per kilogram for fresh fillets, Norway’s 89,698 MT of salmon exports in January generated an overall sales value of NOK 8.9 billion (USD 860.4 million, EUR 801.7 million). This was 25 percent, or NOK 1.8 billion (USD 174 million, EUR 162.1 million), more year-over-year, despite a 6 percent reduction in total sales volume. The United States, Poland and France were Norway’s top three salmon markets.
Counting all species and products, Norway exported NOK 12.7 billion (USD 1.2 billion, EUR 1.1 billion) worth of seafood last month, with the overseas sales value up 23 percent or NOK 2.4 billion (USD 232 million, EUR 216.2 million) versus January 2022.
There were decreases in the country’s cod trades in January, largely as a result of reduced landings.
In total, Norway shipped 3,852 MT of fresh cod, which was 19 percent lower year-on-year. But a record high per-kilogram price of NOK 59 (USD 5.70, EUR 5.31) meant the value of Norway’s cod exports fell just 6 percent to NOK 240 million (USD 23.2 million, EUR 21.6 million).
Contributing to the January total, and also with a record average price of NOK 82 (USD 7.93, EUR 7.39) per kilo, Norway’s 451 MT of skrei exports earned NOK 37 million (USD 3.6 million, EUR 3.3 million).
Additionally, Norway sold 7,846 MT of frozen cod worth NOK 442 million (USD 42.7 million, EUR 39.8 million) overseas, with the volume and value falling 34 percent and 8 percent, respectively, compared with January 2022.
Norway's exporters also achieved a record-high price for frozen fillet blocks. At NOK 83 (USD 8.02, EUR 7.48) per kilo, this was NOK 3 (USD 0.29, EUR 0.27) higher than the previous record month (July 2022).
Norway earned NOK 151.4 billion (USD 14.6 billion, EUR 13.6 billion) from its seafood exports in 2022, an all-time record for the country.
Photo courtesy of TemporalStreet/Shutterstock
