Shrimp processor Kampi, based in north-western Iceland, has had no choice but to make seven of its 40 staff redundant, attributing the need to do this to the strengthening of the Icelandic currency, combined with the effects of the UK’s Brexit referendum.
Ísafjörður newspaper Bæjarins Besta reports that the redundancies are in Ísafjörður and the neighbouring town of Bolungarvík, quoting manager Albert Haraldsson as saying that with the exchange rate as it is, there are no alternatives.
The Icelandic króna has gained by around 15% since the beginning of this year and at the same time the pound has lost approximately 20% of its value.
He commented that raw material costs have remained unchanged, while fewer króna come in for the company’s products.
The situation is repeated at other smaller processing companies in the region, with some of them having to deal with with heavy financial losses.
The MD of another local fish processor was quoted as saying that in the short term, exchange rate fluctuations result in loss of revenue, and for a young company that has not managed to build up financial reserves, this makes day-to-day operation extremely difficult.
