April 11, 2007

Norwegian seafood exports up by US$230 million

Norwegian seafood exports rose by 1.4 billion Norwegian crowns (US$231.5 million), or 16.5 percent on-year to an all-time high of 9.8 billion crowns (US$1.62 billion) in the first quarter of 2007, figures by the Norwegian Seafood Export Council (NSEC) showed.

Seafood exports look set to exceed 40 billion crowns (US$6.613 billion) in 2007 if the trend registered in 2006 continues, NSEC senior executive Egil Sundheim said.

Salmon exports rose by 728 million crowns (US$120.4 million) to 4.4 billion  crowns (US$727.5 million). Exports of salmon trout rose by 37 percent to 357 million crowns (US$59 million /44 million  euro).

Herring exports went up by 51 million  crowns (US$8.4 million) to 934 million  crowns ($154.4 million) of which some 400 million crown ($66.1 million) exports went to Russia.

Mackerel exports fell by 87 million  crowns (US$14.4 million) to 277 million  crowns (US$45.8 million). China and Ukraine were the largest export markets, while exports to Japan and the UK fell.

Exports to the EU rose 15 percent to 6.0 billion  crowns (US$922 million).

Russia was the largest single market with exports of 972 million crowns (US$160.7 million), up by 274 million crowns (US$45.3 million). The growth was driven by exports of salmon, salmon trout and herring.

In March 2007 seafood exports from Norway rose by 358 million crowns ($59.2 million) to a record-high of 3.6 billion crowns (US$595.2 million).