Fall after the price peak before Easter.
“Bloody,” said an exporter describing the salmon price’s ride the last week.
“I am visiting a customer in Urk (in the Netherlands) today, and they are offering fish at less than six euros. It is packed today. That implies NOK 54-55. That is not much when you have bought it at NOK 68 last week.”
Lots of fish
“There is no price rise in sight. Too much fish. There is unsold fish everywhere. We’ve lost millions this week. It’s the bloodiest week I’ve ever experienced. The prices are NOK 55-60 (€5.7-6.2), I think. There is too much being offered. The market is unable to absorb it. The customers do not have the capacity, then we have to freeze it. There is one word: hefty.” [factbox]
“We have never lost so much money in a single week. And unfortunately we are not alone. It’s just sad. But it went too high, and then the recoil came so incredibly fast. I do not believe that May will be a good month. There is too large a quantity,” he believes.
The market is characterized by increased supply and waiting buyers.
“There has been a lot of fish for sale this week,” said an Eastern European buyer. “It is an intense feeding activity now, and it goes incredibly well in both Chile and Norway at the same time. It is long since the last. And then there are holiday days in Eastern Europe, and quiet among buyers. It is quiet on the buyer’s side.”
Must have sales
“Hard to buy today, when you don’t know where to bid. It looks like it slips below 60 kroner (€6.2). There is some unsold fish left,” said a trader to SalmonBusiness. “You must have a sale to make a purchase at the moment. There are people who lose NOK 200-300,000 per truck. It’s not funny.”
“Yes, there are fewer harvesting days next week, but there are similar days off in the market, like Poland,” says another, knowing that no country buys more European salmon than Poland.
Most of SalmonBusiness’ industrial sources see the following salmon prices to farmers for delivery next week:
- NOK 58-59 (€6-6.1) for 3-4 kilograms
- NOK 59-60 (€6.1-6.2) for 4-5 kilograms
- NOK 60-61 (€6.2-6.3) for 5-6 kilograms
