The global harvest of farmed Atlantic salmon in the third-quarter of 2017 increased by 9 percent year-on-year to 523,400 metric tons (MT), resulting in reduced prices in key markets, according to Marine Harvest.
In its Q3 trading statement, the salmon producer confirmed the total salmon supply from Norway increased by 4.3 percent to 283,600 MT, compared with the corresponding three months of 2016. In the same period, the volumes from Scotland (40,000 MT), the Faroe Islands (16,000 MT), Chile (122,100 MT) and North America (38,900 MT) increased by 10.2 percent, 8.1 percent, 20.8 percent and 3.7 percent year-on-year respectively.
The large increase in Chile’s harvest was due to the recovery from last year’s algal bloom in Region X, said Marine Harvest.
In local currencies, the average price paid for salmon in Europe in Q3 2017 decreased by 6.3 percent year-on-year to EUR 6.01 (USD 7.01) per kg, while the prices in Miami (USD 4.93, EUR 4.23) and Seattle (USD 3.25, EUR 2.79) fell by 9.5 percent and 4.2 percent respectively.
There was a 6 percent spike in the global consumption of the product in the last quarter compared with Q3 2016, with the overall consumption 3,000 MT higher than the volumes harvested, which meant there was a minor inventory release in the three months.
In volume terms, consumption in the EU increased by 1 percent in the last quarter to 247,000 MT. The bloc’s key markets continued to grow in value terms, but in volume terms they were negatively impacted by higher retail pricing, said Marine Harvest.
U.S. consumption increased by 11 percent compared with Q3 2016 to 99,400 MT, driven by growing imports of Chilean and European salmon. At the same time, consumption in the Asian market (68,500 MT) increased by 18.3 percent thanks to growing exports from Europe, particularly of large sized fresh salmon.
