Norwegian seafood exporters shipped 275,000 metric tons (MT) of fisheries and aquaculture products worth NOK 9.1 billion (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 961.5 million) to overseas markets last month, with the volume and value declining by 5 percent and 3 percent respectively compared with October 2016.
Despite the reduction, Norway’s total seafood exports for the first 10 months of 2017 amounted to 2.1 million MT worth NOK 77.6 billion (USD 9.6 billion, EUR 8.2 billion), representing an increase in volume of 3 percent and a rise in value of 5 percent or NOK 3.4 billion (USD 418.5 million, EUR 359.3 million) year-on-year.
In particular, the Norwegian cod trade has performed well this year with last month’s fresh exports, including fillets, up 23 percent to 2,200 MT with a value of NOK 91 million (USD 11.2 million, EUR 9.6 million) – a rise of 29 percent. For the first 10 months of 2017, these exports totaled 61,000 MT with a value of NOK 2 billion (USD 246.1 million, EUR 211.4 million), representing year-on-year increases of 8 percent and 10 percent respectively.
Norway’s frozen cod exports in October, meanwhile, totaled 8,500 MT with a value of NOK 257 million (USD 31.6 million, EUR 27.1 million), with the volume on par with a year ago and the value up by 1 percent. So far this year, the Scandinavian country has exported 92,000 MT of frozen cod, including fillets, valued at NOK 2.2 billion (USD 270.8 million, EUR 232.5 million), with the volume 1 percent higher than a year ago and the value up by 4 percent.
However, on a strong declining trend, the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) highlighted that in the pelagic trade, Norway shipped 16,600 MT of herring worth NOK 164 million (USD 20.2 million, EUR 17.3 million) last month, representing year-on-year declines of 34 percent and 46 percent respectively. The country did ship 3 percent more mackerel at 105,000 MT, but the NOK 1.3 billion (USD 160 million, EUR 137.4 million) earned by the species was down 13 percent compared with October 2016.
For the 10-month period, Norway exported 197,000 MT of herring valued at NOK 2.1 billion (USD 258.4 million, EUR 221.9 million), representing decreases of 8 percent and 13 percent respectively. Its mackerel exports totaled 240,000 MT and NOK 3 billion (USD 369.1 million, EUR 317 million), down 4 percent and 10 percent respectively.
