Norwegian seafood exports totalled €727m in May, an increase of 28% compared to 2015, despite an overall reduction in the volume exported.
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A more than 50% increase in the price of salmon owing to its reduced availability has helped the year-to-date value of seafood exports increase by 26% over the same period last year.
Salmon exports were worth €531m in May, an increase of 39% compared to May 2015. Reduced availability of salmon combined with a strong demand from Poland and France helped push the average price for whole fresh Norwegian salmon to €6.56 per kilo compared with €4.16 per kilo a year earlier.
Norway exported trout worth €30.5m in May, representing an increase of 84% from May 2015. So far this year, exports of trout have been worth €173.5m.
Norway exported cod, saithe, haddock and other demersal fish to a value of €108.4m in May. This is at the same level as last May. However year-to-date exports of ground fish have increased by 16%.
In May, exports of fresh cod, including fillets reached €14.7m, a decrease of 8%.
Geir Håvard Hanssen explained: “Good weather has meant that some cod quotas have already been fished”. To compensate for the reduced availability of fresh cod, frozen exports increased by 27%.
Exports of clipfish also declined with May seeing exports down by 15% compared to last year. Saltfish figures were stable with a total of €16.9m, the same as the previous year.
May herring exports stand at €10m, an increase of 13%. Year-to-date, herring exports have totalled €119.3m. Year-to-date figures are even more buoyant with an increase of 62%.
Mackerel exports saw a large rise of 109% in May to €15.5m and year-to-date figures have also increased by 55%.
In May, exports of snow crab were worth €6m, a large increase of 171%. Year-to-date export growth has been nearly 200%. ■
A low pressure wave forming along a cold front will track across the New England coast this morning, bringing a period of rain, heavy at times for much of New England, especially for Maine today.