Historically, Easter is an important period for Norway’s salmon exporters, typified by increased sales of fresh products. However, uncertainty brought by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis led to a downturn in trade in the run-up to the holiday this year.
Comparing week 14 of 2020 with 2019’s week 15 (which was the week before Easter last year), exports of fresh whole salmon were down 15 percent to 17,024 metric tons (MT), while the round weight decreased by 13 percent, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC).
The average export price in week 14 was NOK 64.27 (USD 6.23, EUR 5.70), representing a 6 percent drop.
NSC analyst Paul Aandahl explained that fresh fish sales have been declining in some markets due to the loss of the restaurant segment as well as restrictions in retail stores.
People are also shopping less often and buying products with a longer shelf-life, he said.
Overall, exports of fresh whole salmon to the E.U. market increased by 1 percent to 14,235 MT in week 14. There was growth in Lithuania (18 percent), Germany (14 percent), Finland (146 percent), and the United Kingdom (25 percent), but declines to Poland (8 percent), Italy (32 percent), France (16 percent), and Spain (9 percent).
Exports of fresh salmon fillets increased by 2 percent in week 14 to 1,801 MT. This included increased exports to the E.U. (7 percent), Japan (37 percent), Sweden (51 percent), Israel (154 percent), and South Korea (25 percent).
There was a decrease of about 7 percent in the export of fresh whole salmon to Asia in week 14, but for the first time since the Corona outbreak, exports to China surpassed the corresponding week in 2019, Aandahl said.
In week 14 of 2020, exports of fresh whole salmon to China increased by 32 percent to 572 MT. There was also trade growth in South Korea (4 percent) and Taiwan (2 percent). However, there was a reduction in the export of fresh whole salmon to Thailand (75 percent) and Malaysia (69 percent).
“The reason for the decline in Thailand is largely due to reduced demand from the tourism industry, while the decline in Malaysia is largely related to the loss of air freight capacity,” Aandahl said.
There was a 72-percent decline in exports of fresh whole salmon to the United States in week 14. This was attributed to reduced demand from the restaurant market and a sharp reduction in transport capacity from week 12.
While salmon exports slipped, there was continued volume growth in Norway’s cod exports. The Scandinavian country exported 1,857 MT of fresh whole cod in week 14, representing an increase of 16 percent from the same week last year. Exports of frozen whole cod increased by 65 percent to 1,007 MT in week 14, while fresh whole skrei sales decreased 40 percent to 262 MT.
NSC analyst Ingrid Kristine Pettersen attributed the increase in fresh cod exports to better weather and larger catches.
“The largest growth was in the processing markets [of the] Netherlands and Poland, which produce frozen products for grocery to meet increasing demand,” Pettersen said. “At the same time, we see continued decline in exports of fresh skrei as a result of the loss of the restaurant segment and limited selection of fresh fish around Europe.”
With regards to frozen cod, Pettersen said that week 14’s sales to the U.K. market increased by 128 percent year-on-year thanks to increased demand for frozen fish in the country’s grocery channels.
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 2.8 billion, EUR 2.5 billion).
Salmon exports over the three-month period amounted to 252,000 MT and were valued at NOK 18.5 billion (USD 1.8 billion, EUR 1.6 billion). This trade represented a 2 percent increase in volume and am 11 percent rise in value.
Also in Q1, the overseas sales fresh cod and skrei totaled 23,200 MT and NOK 1.1 billion (USD 106.6 million, EUR 97.6 million), while frozen cod exports reached 23,300 MT, also worth NOK 1.1 billion. In both the fresh and frozen cod categories, the exported volume was down 7 percent, but the value was 2 percent higher year-on-year.
Photo courtesy of Hector Ruiz Villar/Shutterstock
