In a buyer’s market, Poland rules.
“We will probably see all time high harvesting next week. We start from a price level that is strong, but there won’t be a small price correction next week,” says a buyer to SalmonBusiness.
“Poland is going to set the price because they are so damn powerful,” he says.
“The price ends up somewhere between NOK 55-60 (EUR 5.4-5.9), you can be sure of that,” he says.
Premium
The market is characterized by an abundant supply of fish. All of SalmonBusiness’ sources point to a price drop for next week.
“2-3 kg go for NOK 50 (EUR 4.9), 3-4 kg for NOK 56-57 (EUR 5.5-5.6), 4-5 kg for NOK 58 (EUR 5.7), and then it’s NOK 60 (EUR 5.9) for 5+ kg. There is no premium of 6-7 kg anymore, because there is so much of it,” says a trader.
“There is a drop in price of NOK 3-4 (EUR 0.3-0.4). It is not unexpected. Lots of fish. One is completely dependent on freezing a lot of fish. I think we will get an October that has reasonably low prices. We are struggling with transport, struggling to get hold of trucks,” he says further.
“The Poles reduce the price sharply. There are lower prices than what I say. They say six euros delivered [Poland]. They don’t want to pay more,” he points out.
Price floor
The fish farmers seek, as far as possible, to avoid the large volume and low price market Poland.
“A slight decrease. NOK 58, 60, 61 (EUR 5.7, 5.9, 6.0) for three to six kilos. On the spot market, we haven’t sold, but we will,” says one of the farmers.
He makes no secret of the fact that much of the fish goes to processing powerhouse Poland.
“But there is good activity in retail, and there could be an initial upswing. We had the absolute price bottom in August,” he believes.
“I believe in pulling help from the auction (for new Norwegian salmon farming licenses in October – editor’s note). Then that part of the country will go up to the MAB (maximum allowed biomass) ceiling,” he says, and expects that it will reduce the harvesting and supply pressure in the market.
