The average price of Norwegian farmed salmon is expected to fall to around NOK 70 (USD 8.26, EUR 7.48) per kg for mid-sized fish this week after reaching record levels at the start of July.
While prices should decline in line with improved supply, because the total global production of farmed salmon is forecast to fall by between 5 and 9 percent this year, prices over the coming months will remain at much higher levels than in recent years.
Analysts forecast the future prices of 3 to 6 kg fish will average around NOK 74.50 (USD 8.79, EUR 7.96) per kg this month, NOK 60 (USD 7.08, EUR 6.41) in August and NOK 58.40 (USD 6.89, EUR 6.24) in September.
As a result of the high price trend, the Scandinavian country’s farmed salmon exports in the first-half of this year totaled NOK 27.9 billion (USD 3.3 billion, EUR 3 billion), which was 28 percent or NOK 6.2 billion (USD 731.7 million, EUR 662.1 million) more than in H1 2015.
Norway’s total harvest is expected to drop by around 100,000 MT this year to 1.1 million MT, while production in Chile – the world’s No. 2 supplier – could fall by as much as 25 percent or 110,000 MT. These declines are attributed to the countries’ sea lice and algal bloom challenges, respectively.
The high prices and low availability of farmed salmon have left many buyers and processors in key markets struggling to fill orders in recent months.
