Farmed trout, cod exports growing

Farmed trout is gaining in popularity around the world, according to the latest information from the Norwegian Seafood Council.

Figures show a large growth in Norwegian trout exports so far this year. Volume growth increased by 62% to 4,676 tonnes during February, a growth rate of 62%. The value, at NOK 454m (£33m), represents a rise of 40% on a year ago.

Once again, the Ukraine, the United State and Thailand were the largest markets, but Britain also appears to be buying more trout.

Paul T. Aandahl, seafood analyst at the Seafood Council said: “In contrast to salmon, fresh whole fish increased the most in terms of volume for trout.”

Fresh whole trout increased in volume by 118% to 3,457 tonnes, while fresh fillets were down by 15% to 368 tonnes. Frozen fillets fell by 58% to 67 tonnes.

Salmon exports from Norway last month included a growing proportion of filleted fish rather than whole fish.

Ukraine, which is fighting a bitter war with Russia, had the largest value growth this month, with an increase in export value of NOK 85m, or 650% compared to the same month last year. The export volume to Ukraine ended at 1,151 tonnes, which is 641% higher than the same month last year.

Farmed cod on the rise

Exports of farmed cod are also continuing to grow.  They totalled 1,117 tonnes (up 33%) last month and were worth NOK 59m (£4.4m) to the country’s cod farmer companies.

“Farmed cod accounted for 12% of fresh cod exports in February. While the transit country, Denmark, was the largest market for fresh wild cod last month, another transit country, the Netherlands, was the largest market for farmed cod,” said Seafood Council analyst Eivind Hestvik Brækkan.