While the volume of seafood exported by Norway has continued to fall, the value of these sales achieved a new record for the second consecutive month.
Norwegian exporters achieved their highest ever February sales total last month with NOK 7.8 billion (USD 901.8 million, EUR 795.8 million), representing an increase of 9 percent, or NOK 670 million (USD 77.5 million, EUR 68.4 million), over February 2018. This growth was despite the volume falling by 22 percent to 198,700 metric tons (MT).
In January, exports totaled NOK 8.6 billion (USD 994.4 million, EUR 887.6 million) off a volume that was down 4 percent to 200,600 MT.
The Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) said increases in the salmon and whitefish values had contributed to the best-ever February. There had also been upturns in the herring and mackerel values.
Some 80,000 MT of salmon with a value of NOK 5.1 billion (USD 589.7 million, EUR 520.4 million) was exported by Norway last month, with the volume and value up 7 percent and 11 percent, respectively. The average price for fresh whole salmon was NOK 58.94 (USD 6.93, EUR 6.12) per kilogram, which was on par with February 2018.
So far this year, 166,000 MT of salmon have been exported with a value of NOK 10.7 billion (USD 1.2 billion, EUR 1.1 billion).
Paul Aandahl, seafood analyst with the Norwegian Seafood Council, highlighted that Poland, Denmark, and Lithuania were the largest emerging markets in the trade last month, but that these are countries where a high proportion of salmon is processed for export to other markets, mainly within the European Union.
“We are seeing positive trends especially in the consumption of smoked salmon in markets such as Germany, France and Italy,” he said.
Also in the salmonid trade, Norway exported 3,600 MT of trout with a value of NOK 251 million (USD 29 million, EUR 25.6 million), representing increases of 22 percent and 37 percent, respectively, compared with February 2018.
So far this year, 7,600 MT of trout have been exported with a value of NOK 514 million (USD 59.4 million, EUR 52.4 million). This is an increase in volume of 23 percent and an increase in value of 32 percent. The United States, Belarus, and Thailand provided the largest markets for Norwegian trout in February.
With regards to whitefish, Norway shipped 8,800 MT of fresh cod products, including skrei, with a value of NOK 356 million (USD 41.2 million, EUR 36.3 million) last month. This was a 33 percent decrease in volume and a fall of 22 percent in value compared to February last year.
So far in 2019, 13,500 MT of fresh cod has been exported totaling NOK 583 million (USD 67.4 million, EUR 59.5 million), down 28 percent and 15 percent, respectively. The NSC explained that less cod has been landed this year due to bad weather and that the lower volumes had driven up prices by 21 percent to an average of NOK 48.80 (USD 5.64, EUR 4.98) per kilogram.
Norway also exported 7,200 MT of frozen cod with a value of NOK 313 million (USD 36.2 million, EUR 31.9 million) in February, with the volume down 4 percent and the value 17 percent lower than a year previously. However, for the year to date, it has sold 17,000 MT of these products to overseas markets for NOK 709 million (USD 82 million, EUR 72.3 million) – up 11 percent and 32 percent respectively.
In regard to pelagics, in January and February this year the Scandinavian country exported 73,000 MT (up 19 percent) of herring worth NOK 566 million (USD 65.4 million, EUR 57.7 million), an increase of 2 percent; and 38,100 MT of mackerel (up 2 percent) with a value of NOK 634 million (USD 73.3 million, EUR 64.7 million), an increase of 36 percent.
