U-turn after spot-price slide

by
Aslak Berge

After a noteworthy turnaround, the salmon price takes a fall from levels seen last Friday.

After last Friday’s salmon trading at levels around EUR 5 per kilogram, there’s been a deep dive in the spot market. A near-bottomless fall in price this week has been followed up by a U-turn.

“They’ve been down around 36 to 37 kroner (EUR 3.63 to EUR 3.73) a kilo this week, but now it’s something else. Some talk about 45 to 46 kroner (EUR 4.54) to (EUR 4.63) for 3 to 4 (kg), rising up to (EUR 5.04) for 5 to 6 (kg), but it’s just the first signal,” a salmon trader told SalmonBusiness, adding, “Personally, I think it’s going lower.”

Yo-yo
The price avalanche is confirmed by a collection of price sources, and all agree the price strengthened radically in the aftermath.

“I was offered 40 kroner (EUR 4.03) on 5-kg-plus in Oslo. I bought at 10 kroner (EUR 1.01) lower than it was at last Friday. But, I think the fish farmers are getting between 45 and 50 kroner (EUR 4.54 and EUR 5.04) on 3-plus (kg), depending on size, for next week,” an exporter told us.

“And so the big fish lives its own life — 6-plus-kg is stable.”

The Christmas-to-New Year period with just three work days has fairly noticeably tightened up the supply of fish.

Little slaughter
“There’s some. There’ll be just a little processing next week. I have a positive view on things going forward,” he said.

The Yo-yo effect has, however, eroded the margins of many exporters: “This week has been a catastrophe of dimensions. We have sold fish at 40 kroner (EUR 4.03). Everyone said there wasn’t enough fish, and then there was too much.”

Still attractive
He doesn’t hide the lack of volume that’ll affect the week after Christmas.

“The price picture varies a lot. I don’t think any prices are fixed yet. At the moment, we hear prices at 46 to 50 kroner (EUR 4.63 to EUR 5.04). The larger sizes are attractive, but we haven’t bought any yet. It’s hard to achieve any sort of price on the smallest sizes, there’s still unsold fish.”

One of his competitors has, however, finished up his day’s trade.

“We bought two transports at 47 to 48 kroner (EUR 4.74 to EUR 4.84). So, we’ll take our Christmas holiday and take it easy 100-percent,” he said.

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