January 9, 2023

Poland and Denmark still biggest markets for Norway's salmon

Poland and Denmark, both with large salmon processing sectors, continued to be the largest markets for Norwegian salmon last year, according to the annual figures published by the Norwegian Seafood Council.

But seafood sales to the United Kingdom, which traditionally buys a great deal of Norwegian cod and haddock, increased by 27% to kr7.8 billion (US$781.1 million) in 2022.

The United States showed the most dramatic rise at 46% with much of it salmon while sales to China rose by 45% despite some large cities facing COVID shutdowns.

Figures released by the council showed that Norwegian seafood exports reached kr151.4 billion (US$15.2 billion), a record value, in 2022.

Seafood Council analyst Eivind Hestvik Brækkan said: "We have also seen significant growth in the export value to Great Britain, driven by increased exports of frozen whole cod. We have to go all the way back to the year 2000 to find a higher export value of frozen cod to Great Britain."

Last year, aquaculture accounted for 73% of Norway's total seafood exports by value, while in volume, it made up 45%.

In 2022, Norway exported 1.3 million tonnes of seafood from aquaculture.

According to seafood analyst Paul T. Aandahl, the export volume to the US ended at around 66,000 tonnes, which is 22% per cent higher than the previous year.

- Fish Farmer