The United Kingdom has been buying less Norwegian farmed salmon in 2017, largely in response to the higher prices quoted for the product in the opening months of the year.
Norway exported 21,951 metric tons (MT) of its salmon to the market in the first five months of this year, representing a volume decrease of 24 percent or 6,871 MT year-on-year. However, the value achieved by these exports only fell by 2.5 percent due to prices increasing by 21 percent, according to new figures released by the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC).
The marketing body acknowledged that prices have been quite volatile recently, but said that the predictions for the third and fourth quarters of this year are for a higher supply salmon and lower prices.
Overall, Norway exported 377,000 MT of salmon, worth NOK 26 billion (USD 3.1 billion, EUR 2.7 billion) in the January through May period, with the average price in May at NOK 70 (USD 8.36, EUR 7.36) per kg. The EU market in particular has reacted to the high prices in recent months, which has led to increased volumes going to the United States and Asia.
Salmon hasn’t been the only Norwegian seafood export to experience a reduction in its U.K. trade this year, with NSC’s figures also revealing declines in the volumes of cod (down 17 percent), haddock (down 14 percent) and shrimp (down 42 percent) going to the market. For the five-month period these trades amounted to 7,334 MT, 10,438 MT and 308 MT respectively.
NSC said the cod reduction was mainly due to a decline in the export of fresh whole cod, and that all other categories had a similar volume to the year before. Some 94 MT of skrei was sold this year, which was the same as last year despite the season arriving later than usual, and prices being high at the start.
Haddock exports, meanwhile, increased in volume by 16 percent for fresh whole fish and fell 22 percent for frozen whole. The supply of haddock is still good, said NSC, which expects high volumes for the rest of the year.
Currently there is a good amount of fresh whole Norwegian haddock going into the U.K. market, with monthly volumes between 500 MT and 800 MT, it said.
