Imports of frozen haddock from Norway into the United Kingdom increased 14 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, according to new statistics from the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) U.K. Seafood Index.
“Frozen Norwegian haddock is proving an increasingly popular product throughout the U.K. supply chain and with consumers. Recent innovation has dramatically improved the quality of frozen seafood and the data suggests that suppliers and grocers have recognized this, with many of them taking advantage of changing consumer habits,” said Hans Frode Kielland Asmyhr, U.K. director with the NSC.
The U.K. market imported 4,627 metric tons (MT) of frozen Norwegian haddock between January and March, marking a 551 MT increase on the corresponding period of 2017. The increase in imports is met by a 15 percent average price increase compared with this period last year, with the price of frozen haddock from Norway in Q1 2017 costing NOK 27.95 (USD 3.45, EUR 2.95) per kg compared with NOK 32.20 (USD 3.97, EUR 3.39) in the opening quarter of this year.
NSC said the sustained rise in demand points to growing popularity of the product amongst U.K. consumers, with 52 percent usually purchasing the fish in frozen formats. Just 10 percent usually buy smoked haddock.
In this period, the overall household consumption of haddock increased by an average of 170g per week across all demographic groups. In line with this increase in popularity, more than half of the country’s major retailers have seen their market share increase, with some capitalizing on the opportunity to increase their market share by 38 percent.
