A bottleneck in cardboard packaging has increased costs for frozen salmon.
SalmonBusiness has reported several times during the last few weeks that the lack of packaging for frozen salmon has put increased pressure on the fresh market. Most of the salmon is exported fresh in Styrofoam boxes, but some is also sold frozen, in cardboard boxes. A shortage of cardboard boxes has changed the market dynamics, and led to increased pressure on the market for chilled salmon.
“There have actually been challenges in obtaining packaging for freezing for almost a year and a half. It’s a long time to order, we’re quickly talking about a two-three month delivery time, something we’re not used to,” Reidar Nygård, marketing director at Pure Norwegian Seafood (PNS), told DN .
Higher prices for freezers
PNS would like to have frozen more fish, but a lack of proper packaging is an obstacle.
“We have managed to a large extent, and got things to fit together, but as the market is now, prices for frozen salmon are higher than for fresh salmon, and we would have liked to have frozen more,” Nygård said.
Bjarte Salomonsen, salmon farmer at Bremnes Seashore, told SalmonBusiness that cold storage is an important part of the company’s operations, and that the company has a dialogue with some of its partners.
“We pay our suppliers in accordance with current agreements, but increased costs at our suppliers mean that goods and services go up. Then also on freezing services,” he said.
Not profitable
The Haugesund firm Permanor is one of the companies that supplies these services for Bremnes.
“External cold storage is important both for us and for other food producers. In terms of logistics, it is very positive to have a cold storage near us. Permanor is close to both our processing plant and the shipping port for containers,” Salmononsen said.
Another freezer company, Glacio, also notices that costs have run rampant as a result of the violent increase in electricity prices .
“Right now, you could say it is not very profitable. There is a lot that could have been done in the light of hindsight, where perhaps one should have secured other agreements,” Thomas Karlsen, the general manager of Glacio’s branch in Fredrikstad, told SalmonBusiness.
