US chef shortage may be boosting demand for salmon fillets

Is a shortage of restaurant staff in the United States leading to an increase in the export of salmon fillets from Norway?

This is one theory from the Norwegian Seafood Council in its October seafood export announcement yesterday.

In October, exports of fresh salmon fillets increased by 11%, to approximately 12,000 tonnes of product weight, while exports of frozen fillets increased by 39%, to around 8,000 tonnes. In comparison, the export of fresh whole salmon increased by 7% to 144,761 tonnes.

Anne-Kristine Øen, the Council’s US envoy, believes it could be an important factor.

She said that after the Covid-19 pandemic, it has become more difficult for American restaurants to get hold of enough professional staff, and salmon fillets are easy to prepare.

She added: “It has probably led to a change in the direction of more fillet also for professional kitchens.

“The general trend is that consumers are interested in everything that is easy. This applies, for example, to products where sauce or spice butter is in the same package as the salmon.”

Seafood council analyst Paul T. Aandahl said the growth in fillet exports is a trend the council has seen throughout the year.

He added: “It must be seen in the context of increased processing capacity in Norway. In October, the USA was the biggest growth market for both fresh and frozen fillets, says seafood.”

Meanwhile, farmed trout exports continued to grow at pace, hitting 7,111 tonnes worth NOK 620m or £43.5m.

This represents a value increase of 13% and a volume increase of 18%.

Once again Lithuania and the United States were the main markets for trout.