Norway exported seafood worth €1.15 billion in April, an increase of 33%, compared with the same period last year.
In the first four months of this year, Norway exported seafood worth €4.6 billion. This is a growth in export value of 25% measured against the first four months of 2021.
“Higher prices for our key species such as salmon, cod, trout and haddock are the biggest contributors to value growth this month,” said Børge Grønbech, acting chief executive of the Norwegian Seafood Council.
Grønbech went on to cite a number of factors contributing to the higher prices.
• Global food prices are rising sharply, and this contributes to elevated prices for Norwegian seafood as well.
• There is a lower supply of the most popular seafood species, both from Norway and other countries.
• Reopening of hotels and restaurants increases demand from buyers willing to pay more.
• During the pandemic, more people learned to cook more seafood at home. This trend continues for several species, even after the reopening of society in key markets.
“It is still demanding to maintain a global retail trade. More expensive input factors, rising energy and fuel prices and more demanding logistics are some of the factors that contribute to this,” he concluded.
Increased value
Higher prices were seen across the board with the export values of salmon, trout, cod, both fresh and frozen, herring clipfish and salted fish all increasing despite lower export volumes. Despite higher prices, export volumes of both prawns and mackerel fell such that the overall value also decreased.
