Norwegian seafood exports totalled €727m in May, an increase of 28% compared to 2015, despite an overall reduction in the volume exported.
A more than 50% increase in the price of salmon owing to its reduced availability has helped the year-to-date value of seafood exports increase by 26% over the same period last year.
Geir Håvard Hanssen, director of communications at the Norwegian Seafood Council, commented: “Norway has exported one hundred thousand tonnes less of seafood so far this year compared with the first five months of last year. Meanwhile, the value of seafood exports has increased by 26% during the same period. The decline in volume is mainly due to the reduced availability of salmon.”
“Growth by value is mainly due to the strong overall demand for Norwegian seafood and good prices achieved for most products”, he added.
Salmon exports were worth €531m in May, an increase of 39% compared to May 2015. Reduced availability of salmon combined with a strong demand from Poland and France helped push the average price for whole fresh Norwegian salmon to €6.56 per kilo compared with €4.16 per kilo a year earlier.
Norway exported trout worth €30.5m in May, representing an increase of 84% from May 2015. So far this year, exports of trout have been worth €173.5m.
Norway exported cod, saithe, haddock and other demersal fish to a value of €108.4m in May. This is at the same level as last May. However year-to-date exports of ground fish have increased by 16%.
In May, exports of fresh cod, including fillets reached €14.7m, a decrease of 8%.
Geir Håvard Hanssen explained: “Good weather has meant that some cod quotas have already been fished”. To compensate for the reduced availability of fresh cod, frozen exports increased by 27%.
Exports of clipfish also declined with May seeing exports down by 15% compared to last year. Saltfish figures were stable with a total of €16.9m, the same as the previous year.
May herring exports stand at €10m, an increase of 13%. Year-to-date, herring exports have totalled €119.3m. Year-to-date figures are even more buoyant with an increase of 62%.
Mackerel exports saw a large rise of 109% in May to €15.5m and year-to-date figures have also increased by 55%.
In May, exports of snow crab were worth €6m, a large increase of 171%. Year-to-date export growth has been nearly 200%.
