Rich supplies of small fish and an emerging shortage of large salmon gives big gaps in prices for next week.
“Prices of 2-4 (kilograms) and 3-4 are stable, but 4-5 and especially 5+ are rising in price. There is a lot of small fish in the market,” says a trader to SalmonBusiness.
The imbalance in access to fish manifests itself in a wide price spread for the different weight classes.
“It’s a lot 2-3 and 3-4. A lot of fish are harvested on average 3.5 kilos, but 5+ increases in price. It’s the air cargo market that pulls. The air cargo market and the Chinese use 5-6, since it is not enough 6+,” he explains. [factbox]
SalmonBusiness’ industry sources refer to the following farmgate salmon prices for delivery next week:
- 3-4 kilograms NOK 60-61 (€6.1-6.2)
- 4-5 kilograms NOK 62-65 (€6.3-6.6)
- 5-6 kilograms NOK 64-67 (€6.5-6.8)
- 6+ kilograms NOK 70-75 (€7.1-7.6)
“The market is characterized by the fact that there is a generational change in Northern Norway, with a lot of small fish and little big fish,” one exporter comments.
So far, there is a huge gap between fish farmers price offers and market bids.
“Very wide gaps,” another says. “We’ll see where it ends. These are prices that farmers require, but we’ll see if the market takes it.”
“This is not a price one can take up a lot of fish on. It is based on the fact that there is little access at 5+,” he notes.
