An unprecedented abundance of North East Arctic cod bodes well for producers, particularly as demand is expected to remain strong in main northern European markets like the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
In 2011, the total global catch of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) was just over 1 million metric tons, of which 703,000 metric tons was projected to be North East Arctic cod, caught in the Barents Sea.
This year, the cod quota for the Barents Sea, which is shared between Norway and Russia, has been increased by 8 percent to 751,000 metric tons. Of this quota, Norway’s share is 339,857 metric tons and Russia’s is 411,143 metric tons.
The two countries will also share a haddock quota of 318,000 metric tons this year, an increase of 5 percent. The Norwegian share of this quota is 153,235 metric tons, while Russia has 164,765 metric tons.
But for Norway, the world’s second-largest seafood exporter (China is No. 1), it’s cod that is of paramount importance and last year’s catch of 341,000 metric tons had a value of EUR 507.9 million (USD 666.2 million).
Norwegian cod export values held firm at the start of this year. But if there is cause for concern it will be for southern European markets, such as Spain and Portugal, where cod is a traditional favorite but where the euro zone economic crisis is biting the hardest.
Fortunately for groundfish exporters, new opportunities are appearing in emerging countries. For example, Brazil has become a growing destination for Norwegian cod.
Norway also has designs on growing the UK cod market, and the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) has set aside a monetary budget of GBP 700,000 (EUR 848,103, USD 1.1 million) this year to mainly market to the UK fish-and-chip shop industry and HoReCa (hotel, restaurant and catering) trade customers.
The NSC has said its three main targets for 2012 are to increase Norway’s share of the UK cod market from 12.5 percent to 15 percent; its share of haddock from 21 percent to 25 percent; and also to grow the market for Norwegian prawns.
Last year, the value of Norwegian cod exports to the UK market grew 4 percent, while the value of haddock exports increased 23 percent for the year.
While the increased quotas for Barents Sea cod have set prices on a downward trend, they are not expected to go into freefall. The price of 1- to 2-kilogram pieces of headed and gutted (H&G) frozen cod reached EUR 3,145 (USD 4,127) per metric ton last year, and in the early months of 2012 they were between 5 and 10 percent lower. But the demand for fillets has stayed strong and the price hasn’t declined by as much as for H&G.
For fresh cod, the minimum price in Norway for 2012 was reduced in negotiations between the Norwegian Fishermen’s Association and the processing industry. The price for cod of a minimum size of 6 kilograms has dropped by 7 percent to EUR 2.20 (USD 2.89) per kilogram.
Overall, Norway set a record for its groundfish exports last year, exporting fish with a total value of NOK 11.2 billion (EUR 1.5 billion, USD 1.9 billion), an increase of NOK 739 million (EUR 97.4 million, USD 127.9 million) or 7 percent year-on-year. The Scandinavian country will no doubt want more of the same in 2012.
