Exports of Norwegian seafood registered a new record in value for the seventh year running with fish farming playing an increased role. The value fulfill the prediction and rose to 53.8 billion kroners (around £5.5-billion sterling). The increase was nine billion kroners higher than the 2009 figure, which itself was a record.
According to the Norwegian Seafood Export Council the country exported a total of 2.7 million tons of seafood in 2010, an increase of 93 thousand tons, compared with the previous year. Salmon and trout’s demand rose strongly last year with an increase in export value of 29 percent. Export Council chief executive Terje E. Martinussen said that this means that fish farming represents 62 percent of the total Norwegian seafood exports. He added that the export of traditional codfish products also show an increase.
The largest market for Norwegian seafood is France and Russia. Exports of salmon in a single month last autumn totalled £320-million alone. Sales of Norwegian salmon to the US in particular have rocketed since the Chile salmon disease outbreak 18 months ago. Fish buyers on the Humber are trying to persuade the Norwegians to send more cod and haddock to the region, following the drop off in supplies from Iceland.
