Significantly greater volumes of cod have been exported by Norway this year, contributing to a record whitefish value.
Last month, Norway exported 3,100 metric tons (MT) of fresh cod, including fillets, valued at NOK 77 million (USD 9.7 million, EUR 8.2 million). The volume represented an increase of 52 percent or 1,100 MT compared to July 2016, while the value was up 7 percent or NOK 5 million (USD 630,436, EUR 534,402), according to new figures published by the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC).
For the first seven months of this year, Norway exported 56,700 MT of fresh cod products with a value of NOK 1.9 billion (USD 239.6 million, EUR 203.1 million) – both up 10 percent compared to the corresponding period of last year.
In addition to its fresh cod exports, Norway shipped 7,200 MT of frozen cod products with a value of NOK 228 million (USD 28.7 million, EUR 24.4 million) last month, representing increases of 12 percent and 13 percent respectively.
For January through July 2017, the Scandinavian country exported 45,800 MT of frozen cod worth NOK 1.5 billion (USD 189.1 million, EUR 160.3 million). While this volume was 2 percent lower than for the same period of last year, the value was 2 percent or NOK 30 million (USD 3.8 million, EUR 3.2 million) higher.
NSC also highlighted that the country’s whitefish exports achieved a record value of NOK 8.1 billion (USD 1 billion, EUR 865.6 million) for the first-half of this year, based on a volume of 249,000 MT. These value and volume totals were up 10 percent and 9 percent year-on-year respectively, with China importing unprecedented volumes this year.
Overall, Norwegian seafood exporters shipped 1.4 million MT of fisheries and aquaculture products worth NOK 53.1 billion (USD 6.7 billion, EUR 5.7 billion) to overseas markets in the seven months through to the end of July, with the volume up 5 percent year-on-year and the value 8 percent higher.
