The newly-concluded free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union and the internal South American market Mercosur could lead to increased export opportunities for Norwegian seafood to Brazil, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC).
While Norway is not a member of the E.U., as a European Free Trade Association (EFTA) country – along with Iceland, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein – the hope is that a similar trade deal can be agreed now that the E.U.-Mercosur agreement has been ratified.
Due to various trade challenges and high tariffs, currently Norway’s main seafood export to Brazil is clipfish. But NSC’s Øystein Valanes reckons that the newly concluded agreement is an important step in the right direction for, among other things, salmon exports to Brazil.
“The agreement between the E.U. and Mercosur can simplify the process of a separate agreement between EFTA and the South American countries. It can remove customs barriers and make the market more available for export of several types of Norwegian seafood to Brazil,” he said.
Valanes believes there is a real opportunity to get an agreement between EFTA and Mercosur within the year, and this would enable Norwegian salmon to be able to compete with Chilean products, which have had almost exclusive access to the Brazilian market.
Brazilians eat a lot of salmon, with the fish accounting for 24 percent of Brazil's total imported seafood volume last year.
