Norwegian salmon prices plummet to 2022 levels

The export price of Norwegian fresh salmon fell last week to its lowest point for two years.

It dropped down during week 35 – the final week of August – to NOK 73.93 per kilo (£5.30), lower than at any point this year or in 2023.

The last time it went below that figure was during the late July to August period of 2022, when prices hovered around the NOK 61 to 69 mark.

But at that time production costs were lower and the salmon tax had yet to kick in.

Last week’s downward movement represented a decrease of 3.8% on the previous week, says the monitoring organisation Statistics Norway.

The August export figures from the Norwegian Seafood Council were published yesterday and show that despite the lower prices the overall revenues from salmon sales were at their highest yet for the month of August.

This was due to a much weaker kroner against major currencies such as the euro and US dollar.

The week 35 export total was 25,506 tonnes, about 1,500 tonnes up on week 35 two years ago but only 246 tonnes higher than during the same week last year.

But it would appear the lower prices are at last feeding through to the retail sector, particularly in Europe which in turn is fuelling consumer demand. In Germany, for example, sales were up by an impressive 26% to 5,556 tonnes last month.

Prices are generally tipped to bottom out this month before rising during the eight weeks running up to Christmas.

Frozen salmon exports also rose last week by 71 tonnes to 495 tonnes although prices remained stable at NOK 81.97 per kilo (£5.87).