Strong growth in demand for prepacked seafood products in retail channels is providing a new opportunity for the processing sector in Norway and other countries, according to Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) analyst Paul Aandahl.
In NSC’s latest update on the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus on Norwegian seafood exports, Aandahl said that the country’s salmon and cod were “sought-after raw materials” for the production of packaged products for sale in the grocery trade.
He also pointed out that “after a very turbulent period,” the price drop for salmon is starting to flatten out.
“There is still a large reduction in sales to individual markets, but at the same time there are several positive moves to track,” he said
Total exports of fresh whole salmon to Asia increased by 12 percent in week 16, compared with last year, with logistics also improving. Within the region, exports to China increased by 137 percent to 837 metric tons (MT). There were also upturns in sales to Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea.
“These are markets where home consumption of Norwegian salmon more than compensates for the loss of restaurant consumption," Aandahl said
The market in China for Norwegian salmon, which dipped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, seems to have returned.
“After three weeks of higher exports than the corresponding weeks last year, we see that the Chinese market is fully back for Norwegian salmon,” added Victoria Braathen, NSC’s director in China. “As China moves towards a normalization in activity levels and demand, we see no reason why this development should not continue.”
Some E.U. markets are following similar trends, with the NSC highlighting that more Norwegian salmon had been exported to both Spain and the United Kingdom in recent weeks.
Based on panel data from Kantar analytics, in Spain, there was an increase in home consumption of salmon of 12 percent in volume and 21 percent in value in the period week 9 to week 12. In the U.K. market, salmon consumption increased by 18 percent in volume and 20 percent in value.
Meanwhile, France’s at-home consumption of salmon increased by 21 percent in volume, while seafood in general increased by 11 percent in the same period. Sales of frozen cod fillets increased by 49 percent.
"We observe that salmon [has] increased shelf space in store, while some fresh fish counters operate at reduced capacity," NSC’s director in France, Trine Horne, said. "Convenience food still holds a strong position, and increased availability of ‘ready-to-eat’ products of both cod and salmon contributes to an increase in home consumption. The strongest growth is for frozen products. Both salmon and cod products increase more than the seafood category in general.”
In the first quarter of 2020, Norway’s seafood exporters shipped 664,000 MT of fisheries and aquaculture products worth NOK 28.6 billion (USD 2.7 billion, EUR 2.5 billion).
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