The overall value of fish and shellfish caught by Icelandic vessels in June totaled ISK 7.1 billion (USD 66.8 million, EUR 56.8 million), down almost 22 percent compared with a year previously. Reduced earnings were seen in its demersal, flatfish and shellfish landings, while the blue whiting catch boosted the pelagic value, confirmed the latest figures from Statistics Iceland.
Iceland’s demersal catch value for the month fell by 26.4 percent to less than ISK 5.4 billion (USD 50.8 million, EUR 43.2 million), with cod’s value declining by 19.3 percent compared to June 2016 to ISK 3.3 billion (USD 31 million, EUR 26.4 million) and haddock down 23.5 percent to ISK 398.2 million (USD 3.7 million, EUR 3.2 million).
At the same time, its flatfish and shellfish values declined by 5.1 percent and 36.8 percent respectively to ISK 1.2 billion (USD 11.3 million, EUR 10 million) and ISK 275.8 million (USD 2.6 million, EUR 2.2 million).
However, the country’s pelagic value increased by more than 119 percent to ISK 298.9 million (USD 2.8 million, EUR 2.4 million), due to ISK 246.1 million (USD 2.3 million, EUR 2 million) worth of blue whiting.
Figures for the year July 2016 through June 2017 find that the total catch value dropped by 19.8 percent year-on-year to ISK 112.4 billion (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 898.6 million), including drops in the demersal, flatfish and shellfish catch values of 23.5 percent, 27.6 percent and 40 percent respectively. The pelagic catch value for the year increased marginally to almost ISK 26.9 billion (USD 253 million, EUR 215.1 million).
During the 12-month period, around ISK 59.5 billion (USD 559.6 million, EUR 475.8 million) worth of Iceland’s total catch went directly for domestic processing (down 19.8 percent), while ISK 16.7 billion (USD 157.1 million, EUR 133.6 million) worth was sold at auction for domestic processing (down 17.6 percent). Landings valued at ISK 4.2 billion (USD 39.5 million, EUR 33.6 million) were exported in containers (down 15 percent), and the frozen-at-sea catch fell by 23.2 percent year-on-year to ISK 31.4 billion (USD 295.4 million, EUR 251.2 million).
