Salmon virus tilts prices in British Columbia

 

 

A virus that devastated the Chilean salmon industry is driving up global prices, bringing an unintended boon to British Columbia's embattled farmed-salmon business.

 

Salmon spot prices have nearly doubled in the past year, following a sharp drop in global supply due to the outbreak of infectious salmon anemia (ISA) in Chile, the world's second-biggest source.

 

But the benefits for British Columbia, the fourth-largest producer globally, will go only so far because of a recent moratorium on the expansion of fish farms in the province, according to reports. That could mean even higher salmon prices in the months ahead, as global salmon supply is expected to fall this year for the first time in almost a decade.

 

Figures showed that spot salmon prices averaged US$4.33 a pound in January in the US, compared with US$2.77 at the same time last year. Prices hit a 52-week high of US$4.55 on February 9.

 

The salmon spot price is a benchmark based on a two-to-three-pound fresh, farmed Chilean Atlantic salmon fillet sold in the US.

 

Chile's salmon stocks are expected to drop by up to 70% this year, causing global supply to drop by about 7%, according to Norwegian-based Marine Harvest ASA, the world's largest salmon farmer.

 

Norway, which is the No. 1 source of salmon globally, is expected to offset some of that drop by increasing production.

 

Ian Roberts, a spokesman for Marine Harvest's operations in British Columbia, said that while higher prices are good for profits, the business can only grow so much because of the provincial restrictions.

 

Fish farms in British Columbia have been criticised for introducing Atlantic salmon into the Pacific Ocean; it is considered a non-native species that threats biodiversity.

 

The province last month announced a ban on new fish farm licences until the transfer of the industry to the federal government is completed, likely later this year. About 70% of British Columbia's salmon is exported to the US.

 

There are no expansion restrictions in Atlantic Canada, where the salmon farming industry is about two-thirds the size of the one in British Columbia. The Atlantic industry is planning to expand more aggressively as a result of the global salmon shortage.

 

Meanwhile, the annual cost of infectious ISA outbreaks among farmed fish was reported to be US$11-million in Norway, US$14-million in Canada, and US$32-million in Scotland.