Scotland’s farmed Atlantic salmon exports are expected to get back on track this year after stuttering in 2015. The country, which ranks third in the world in terms of salmon production, harvested a record 170,022 metric tons (MT) of salmon in 2014, but biological challenges saw this drop to around 152,000 MT last year.
While sales to the EU market increased slightly, Scotland’s trade with North American and Far East markets was down by one-third in 2015, after showing very strong growth in the previous two years.
Last year’s production was particularly hit by sea lice infestations and the arrival of amoebic gill disease (AGD) at key production areas. Both threats have rapidly increased in recent years, in line with rising seawater temperatures.
Other thorns in the industry’s side in 2015 included a higher currency value than its main competitors as well as the ongoing Russian trade embargo, which led to an oversupply of salmon in world markets. As a result, total exports fell by about 20 percent.
Nevertheless, the industry is forecasting its total output to rise to around 160,000 MT and the increase couldn’t have come at a better time with Chilean production significantly affected by ongoing algal bloom problems.
Chile’s plight has seen more than 100,000 MT of salmon taken out of the market, which has in turn seen market demand and prices increase this year. At the same time, Norwegian production is expected to fall by around 3 percent this year – also largely because of sealice infestations.
Salmon farming already generates GBP 800 million (USD 1.2 billion, EUR 1 billion) for the Scottish economy, but the industry has ambitions of increasing this to GBP 1.1 billion (USD 1.6 billion, EUR 1.4 billion) by 2020, based on a production level of 210,000 MT. A lot, though, hinges on getting approval for additional farm sites.
