Despite the volumes produced being relatively stable during the last five years, the total first-sale value of farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) sold across the European Union over this period increased by 40 percent to approximately EUR 8.7 billion (USD 10.8 billion) in 2017, according to new data from the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA).
EUMOFA also confirmed that while the salmon farming industry is known for its “cyclical ups and downs,” average earnings have not dropped below break-even since early 2000, and that the sector has also gone through considerable consolidation over the past decade, whereby the top 10 companies now control 60 percent of the total output in Europe, while companies listed on the Norwegian stock exchange control approximately 58 percent of all European Atlantic salmon production.
In addition to an internal salmon production of around 170,100 metric tons (MT), the E.U.’s 28 member states imported 830,137 MT of salmon with a value of almost EUR 5.5 billion (USD 6.8 billion) in 2016. Compared with 2012, this volume and value were up 15 percent and 83 percent respectively. These imports also included wild Pacific salmon, which accounted for 5 percent of the total.
Norway was by far the biggest supplier of Atlantic salmon to the E.U. market, selling 695,548 MT of the fish into the bloc, thereby covering 84 percent of the total trade.
The E.U.’s main Atlantic salmon consuming countries are France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Spain. However, the increased retail price in 2016 and 2017 – triggered by a supply reduction following various biological problems in the producing countries of Norway, Chile, and Scotland – saw consumption fall in most markets. Only Italy bought more salmon through this period.
EUMOFA reports that the farming challenges led to a 7 percent worldwide reduction in the Atlantic salmon supply from 2015 to 2016 and that import prices into the E.U. increased by 25 percent as a consequence. Indeed, between 2012 and 2016, the average import price climbed by 73 percent.
Nevertheless, over the last decade, E.U. salmon consumption has risen by 40 percent, with the apparent per capita consumption of farmed salmon reaching 2.17kg in 2015.
Meanwhile, E.U. exports of salmon, primarily originating from the United Kingdom, amounted to 82,363 MT worth EUR 592 million (USD 734 million) in 2016. Salmon from the E.U. is mainly exported fresh or frozen, but the biggest share of the value comes from exports of smoked salmon fillets.
The production of Atlantic salmon in Europe (including Norway) should grow by 6 percent this year to reach almost 1.6 million MT, estimates EUMOFA, with the growth mainly being driven by improvements in biological conditions in the sea through 2017.
“Salmon is keeping its position as a leading source of seafood nutrition in Europe and will continue to be a staple in the diet to Europeans, as it has been for centuries,” it said.
