Norway exported 85,400 metric tons (MT) of farmed Atlantic salmon worth NOK 5.1 billion (USD 660.1 million, EUR 530.2 million) last month. This represented a 23 percent increase in volume but the value remained on par with January 2017.
The average export price for fresh whole salmon last month was NOK 57.10 (USD 7.39, EUR 5.94) per kg, which was down from the record NOK 72.02 (USD 9.32, EUR 7.49) per kg a year previously.
Poland, France and Denmark were last month’s largest export markets for the product, with Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) analyst Paul Aandahl saying that the EU had “largely recovered” from last year’s price rise shock.
France in particular was showing a positive growth trend, he said. At the same time, China is currently the driver for the Asian region, with a record increase in volume compared with January last year.
In total, Norway exported 1 million MT of salmon worth NOK 64.7 billion (USD 8.37, EUR 6.73) in 2017, with the volume and value up 2.8 percent and 5 percent respectively. Of this, 736,000 MT of salmon worth NOK 45.7 billion (USD 5.9 billion, EUR 4.8 billion) went to EU markets, which represented a decrease in volume of 2 percent and an increase in value of 1 percent compared with 2016.
Norway is forecast to harvest 1.3 million MT of salmon this year, an increase of 100,000 MT compared with 2017.
The NSC also confirmed that the Scandinavian country exported 3,200 MT of trout with a value of NOK 207 million (USD 26.8 million, EUR 21.5 million) last month, with the volume and value up 28 percent and 7 percent respectively, compared with January 2017. The United States, China and Canada were the leading markets for this product.
Last year, it exported 39,995 MT of trout worth almost NOK 2.9 billion (USD 375.3 million, EUR 301.5 million), which represented volume and value decreases of 42 percent and 27 percent respectively.
