Farmed trout gaining in popularity – Seafood Council

Sales of farmed trout, for so long a good second best to salmon in the popularity stakes, are on the rise.

The Norwegian Seafood Council reports trout showed a large growth in volume last month and sales seem to be gathering momentum.

Trout is more popular in certain countries, notably the United States and Thailand, but despite the ravages of war, sales to Ukraine are also rising sharply.

Norway’s trout farmers sold 4,584 tonnes of the fish worth NOK 439m (£32.8m) in January, a volume rise of 49% and the value up by 43%.

Shipments to Ukraine totalled 682 tonnes, a rise of 177% on a year ago.

Seafood Council analyst Paul T> Aandahl said that historically speaking, both trout production and exports have had large fluctuations.

“There was a decrease in 2023 but is now back at the 2022 level measured in volume. However, there has been a sharp turn in the product mix for trout. Fresh whole trout has increased its dominance compared to the other product types,” he added.

Sales of fresh farmed cod are also continuing to take off. Exports at 1,051 tonnes were up by 62% on a year ago and were worth NOK 59 million (£4.4m), representing 29% of fresh cod supplies.

Seafood Council analyst Eivind Hestvik Brækkan said: “While the transit country Denmark is the largest destination for wild-caught cod, with over 80% of the export volume, Spain is the largest destination for farmed cod with 40% of the volume ending up in this market.”

The UK remains one of the main markets for wild-caught frozen cod.