Weak krone still boosting Norway’s seafood exports

A further decline in the value of the krone was the major contributor to another increase in the value of the country’s seafood exports in May, it emerged today.

The total for last month, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council, was NOK 13.1bn (almost £1bn), a rise of 7% or NOK 816m (£60m) on May last year.

One pound sterling will buy NOK 13.6 today compared with around NOK 12 a year ago. Farmed salmon accounts for 70% of the country’s overall seafood exports.

Seafood Council CEO Christian Chramer said that, as happened in April, there was another significant currency effect last month.

“The weak Norwegian krone alone contributed to an increase in value of around NOK 1.5 billion last month.

“Without this currency development, there would have been a decline in export value. The market situation has now become more demanding,” he added.

Chramer said that measured in euros, the export value fell by 8% in May, while measured in dollars it fell by 5%, compared to May last year.

“The re-opening after the corona pandemic and a subsequent high inflation all over the world have contributed to raising global food prices in the past year.

“Together with the weak Norwegian krone, this has resulted in a strong increase in the value of seafood exports.”

So far this year, NOK 67.5 bn (almost £5bn) worth of seafood has been exported, a growth of NOK 9.9bn (£722m).

Seafood Council analyst Paul T. Aandahl said: “In the most important market for Norwegian salmon, the EU, we see that the growth trend has reversed.

“An example of this is fresh whole salmon to the EU. There, the export volume fell by 6% in May, to 44,874 tonnes, while the price measured in euros fell by 4%.”

Norway exported 82,148 tonnes of salmon worth NOK 9.6bn (£701m), a value rise of 14% on a year ago. The volume was down by 2%. Poland, Denmark and the US remain the main markets.

Christian Chramer