Increased harvesting and subdued purchasing enthusiasm lower the spot price.
“Prices have fallen a lot. Now fish of all sizes are offered all over the place”, said an exporter to SalmonBusiness.[factbox]
“There is good growth, good conditions in the sea. And the demand side has not been strong either. But I did not think it [the price] would be so low,” he continued.
Last Friday, the average price was just under six euros. It’s lower now.
Lost a lot
“We have bought 3-4 kg in Oslo at 50 kroner (EUR 5). There is a lot of unsold fish from this week. I think we need to listen to the market. The exporters have lost a lot lately,” he said, and referred to the following farmgate prices for next week:
- 3-4 kg NOK 48-49 (EUR 4.8-4.9)
- 4-5 kg NOK 50 (EUR 5.0)
- 5-6 kg NOK 53 (EUR 5.3)
- 6+ kg NOK 58-60 (EUR 5.8-6.0)
Others see a slightly higher price range.
“I do not think the big fish goes down, because there is not enough of it. And this holds up the others. I do not want to rule out that 3-4 kg can be less than 50 kroner (EUR 5), but 6+ keeps the price up on the larger sizes,” said another exporter.
He referred to prices of NOK 54 (EUR 5.4) for 4-5 kg, NOK 55 (EUR 5.5) for 5-6 kg and NOK 70 (EUR 7.0) for fish over 6 kg.
“There are wide spreads – everywhere. The week has gone downward, on everything, from Monday/Tuesday. A lot of ISA fish. 2-4 kg have been severely beaten. Some vengeful exporters, who have probably lost a lot of money this week, are talking down the price,” said a fish farmer.
He reported the following prices for the coming week:
- 3-4 kg NOK 52-53 (EUR 5.2-5.3)
- 4-5 kg NOK 56-58 (EUR 5.6-5-8)
- 5-6 kg NOK 63-64 (EUR 6.3-6.4)
- 6+ kg NOK 68 (EUR 6.8)
Increased demand
“We primarily sell fish to be harvested on Monday and Tuesday, and then we keep the rest, because we think it will be possible to get better prices later. We notice a number of processors are increasing. We take it easy with what is “Wednesday +” so far. I know that at these levels there is increased demand,” he said.
“We notice that the demand for 5+ is great, 2-5 is enough of. So then it is good to hold a fish that is 5.4 kilos on average for us,” the farmer smiled.
But the common perception among industry sources is lower prices than the above mentioned:
“51/55/58”, writes a trader in an SMS about next week’s prices for 3-6 kilos of fish.
