Norwegian Seafood Council analyst, Paul Aandahl, forecasts brighter times for the consumption of fresh salmon.
“What we’re seeing is that the consumption of fresh (fish) has turned from a negative to a positive trend. It’s firstly in the fresh segment that we believe growth in the European Union has now turned over. For frozen and smoked products, we believe there’ll be stabilization or continued downturn.”
In January, the average price of fresh, whole salmon fell from EUR 7.39 to EUR 5.85 kroner per kilogram over last year. Last week, SalmonBusiness had heard Aaandahl say there was (at last) “lower prices in the stores”.
German belwether
“The price of fresh, natural salmon in France in December sat at EUR 16.46 a kilo. That was 10 percent lower than in the same month last year, while volume turnover increased by 18 percent. We still don’t have data for January, but I believe the trend has strengthened since December,” Aandahl said.
Aandahl pointed to increases in German supermarkets as a good indicator: “In Germany, the price fall was (three percent) lower, but the volume growth was 20 percent. I expect that this pattern has continued since Christmas.”
January numbers form the Seafood Council reveal Norwegian exports accrued to 85,400 tonnes in the month, or good enough or EUR 523 million. That’s an increase of 16,000 t or 23 percent, although the export’s value stayed constant.
Better biology
The year 2017 saw salmon prices fall from EUR 7.38 to EUR 5.86 per kilo. Aandahl and the Seafood council prices hanging around the 5-euro mark for the rest of 2018.
“We’ve seen slightly larger fish to process. That comes from better biology — tackling lice problems. At the same time, autumn’s fall in prices has been transferred to consumers, with lower prices in the stores. More fresh salmon is being carted off,” he told newspaper Nordlys.
