Norwegian seafood exporters shipped 151,000 metric tons (MT) fisheries and aquaculture products with a value of NOK 6.8 billion (USD 785.1 million, EUR 716.3 million) last month, representing declines of 23 percent and 7 percent respectively, according to new figures published by the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC).
For the first four months of the year, Norway has exported 886,000 MT of seafood worth NOK 31 billion (USD 3.6 billion, EUR 3.3 billion). While this volume in on par with exports for the same period of last year, the value has increased by 8 percent or NOK 2.3 billion (USD 265.5 million, EUR 242.3 million).
“The decline in seafood exports in April is mainly due to a shift in Easter, which again explains some of the decline in export volumes for our important seafood products such as salmon and clipfish,” said Asbjorn Warvik Rortveit, director of market insight with the NSC.
Norway exported 60,000 MT of salmon worth in April, down 11 percent or 8,800 MT year-on-year, while its clipfish shipments amounted to 4,600 MT, also 11 percent less than a year ago.
There was, however, an upturn in Norway’s cod trade last month. The Scandinavian country exported 10,800 MT of fresh cod, including its premium skrei product, with a total value of NOK 341 million (USD 39.4 million, EUR 35.9 million). By value this represents an increase of 8 percent or NOK 24 million (USD 2.8 million, EUR 2.5 million) and a volume increase of 6 percent or 625 MT compared with April 2016.
Norway exported 881 MT of skrei last month, an increase of 203 MT compared to April 2016, while the average price fell slightly from a year ago to NOK 32.89 (USD 3.80, EUR 3.47) per kg. As such, the value of skrei exports increased by 28 percent to NOK 29 million (USD 3.4 million, EUR 3.1 million).
For the skrei season as a whole, Norway exported 5,000 MT of product worth NOK 181 million (USD 20.9 million, EUR 19.1 million). While this was the same volume as 2016, the value fell 1.8 percent.
Spain, Germany and Sweden were the largest consumer markets for skrei this year.
As the skrei season came to a close, it was achieving a price margin of NOK 6.59 (USD 0.76, EUR 0.69) per kg compared to other fresh cod.
Also in April, Norway exported 5,300 MT of frozen cod worth NOK 171 million (USD 19.8 million, EUR 18 million), representing year-on-year decreases of 19 percent and 23 percent respectively.
So far this year, Norway has exported 26,000 MT of frozen cod worth NOK 856 million (USD 98.9 million, EUR 90.3 million).
