China paid €7 more per kilo for salmon than Poland

by
Aslak Berge

Historically large price gap.

Norway’s largest salmon buyer, Poland, is not known for paying too much for the fish. The large Polish processing plants run high volumes and have a tough cost focus. They also have extensive use of long-term fixed-price contracts.

The latter is a key reason why Poland paid €7.8 per kilo (delivered the Norwegian border) for salmon last week – well below the average price of €9.5, according to export statistics from the Norwegian Seafood Council.

No one bought more salmon than the Poles, who were able to transport 2,734 tonnes of fresh salmon from Norway in week 19.

While Poland traded fish cheaply, at least relative to the market price, China was at the opposite end of the scale. China paid €14.6 per kilo (delivered to the Norwegian border) for air-packed fresh salmon. China has strict requirements for health certificates and manual packing of salmon, which a few of the country’s large packing plants offer.

Other overseas markets, such as South Korea (€13.5), Vietnam (€13), Thailand (€12.4) and South Africa (€12.5), also excelled with high import prices last week.

The historically high prices seen in 2022 are primarily due to high demand growth and declining supply of salmon. So far this year, market leader Norway has exported 464,757 tonnes of salmon, compared to 482,547 tonnes at the same time last year.

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