The value of Iceland’s demersal landings decreased by 23 percent in the 12 months from May 2016 to April 2017, reaching ISK 77.7 billion (USD 753.3 million, EUR 642 million), according to new figures published by Statistics Iceland.
The values achieved by Iceland’s cod, haddock, saithe and redfish, fell to ISK 49.2 billion (USD 476.4 million, EUR 406 million), ISK 8 billion (USD 77.5 million, EUR 66 million), ISK 7 billion (USD 67.8 million, EUR 57.8 million) and ISK 8.7 billion (USD 84.3 million, EUR 71.8 million) respectively.
The Icelandic fishing fleet landed seafood with a total value of ISK 115.2 billion (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 95.2 million) in the aforementioned period, a decrease of 20.1 percent year-on-year. As well as the decline in the value of the demersal catch, the country’s flatfish, pelagic and shellfish catches decreased by 28.1 percent, 4.7 percent and 34.5 percent respectively,
Its pelagic earnings totaled ISK 27.1 billion (USD 262.7 million, EUR 223.9 million). In this category, there was growth in the value of herring, capelin and mackerel – up to ISK 6.2 billion (USD 60.1 million, EUR 51.2 million), ISK 6.3 billion (USD 61.1 million, EUR 52 million) and ISK 10.9 billion (USD 105.7 million, EUR 90 million) respectively. However, the value of the Icelandic blue whiting catch was down 47.1 percent to ISK 3.7 billion (USD 35.9 million, EUR 30.6 million).
The value of Iceland’s flatfish landings dropped to ISK 7.6 billion (USD 73.7 million, EUR 62.8 million), while its shellfish catch value amounted to ISK 2.8 billion (USD 27.1 million, EUR 23.1 million).
Around ISK 60.7 billion (USD 588.4 million, EUR 501.4 million) worth of Iceland’s total catch went directly for domestic processing (down 19.7 percent), while ISK 17.9 billion (USD 173.5 million, EUR 147.9 million) worth was sold at auction for domestic processing (down 11.4 percent) in the 12-month period.
Landings valued at ISK 4.5 billion (USD 43.6 million, EUR 37.2 million) were exported in containers (down 4.8 percent), and the frozen-at-sea catch fell by 26.9 percent year-on-year to ISK 31.3 billion (USD 303.5 million, EUR 258.6 million).
