Storms push up salmon prices

Last week’s storms – the worst in Norway for many years – appear to have sharply pushed up salmon prices.

The news was hardly surprising, with Storm Ingunn shutting down salmon farms in the north of Norway for several days. With roads closed and rail and sea transport at a standstill it was almost impossible to get any fish that had been harvested out of the area.

According to Statistics Norway, the average export price of fresh salmon in week five rose by 4.5% or NOK 4.7 to NOK 109.18 per kilo (£8.18), making it the second highest figure so far this year.

Clearly, the weather played a considerable part as exports of fresh salmon dropped by almost 12% to 13,511 tonnes last week.

It will be a couple of weeks before the industry knows if this is just a weather-driven blip or part of a longer-term trend of rising prices.

The smart money suggests that fresh salmon will continue to rise in price but by how much will depend on consumer resistance when prices go up in the shops, as happened last year.

For now, demand from Europe, the United States and China continues to remain strong.

Nordea Markets, which closely monitors trends, is reporting in Norway that it expects the upward trend to continue because there is almost no growth in global production. It is raising share price targets among the major players as a result.

Frozen salmon at 342 tonnes last week plays a small part in the overall export picture and the price, although down a little, remained stable at NOK 83.99 a kilo (£6.29).