A report released by research body Nofima reveals that while 2023 was a strong year for Norway’s seafood business, the wild catch sector faces challenges – as this key industry for coastal communities shows low profitability.
The figures for 2023 indicate that fisheries employ 9800 people and the industry has ripple effects across society, including among transport business, packaging and equipment suppliers. Nofima has calculated that this entails 6500 additional jobs.
Nofima’s report provides a comprehensive overview of the wild fish industry’s structure, employment, value creation and ripple effects, highlighting the industry’s importance for employment in coastal communities. The work on the report was funded by FHF, the Norwegian Fisheries and Aquaculture Industry’s Research Funding Agency.
‘Fishing is important for many coastal communities. In some municipalities, over 60% of the private sector is employed in the fishing industry,’ said researcher Audun Iversen.
Following a decline in the early 2000s, the wild fish industry stabilised in recent years at just under 300 companies. Quotas fell both last year and this year, and the industry faces challenges.
‘The fleet has been able to generate increased margins over time, and also had good margins in 2023, something the fishing industry has not been able to do. The increased prices for cod, among other things, are cushioning the decline for the fleet, while the fishing industry has not been able to extract enough from the price increases in the market,’ Audun Iversen observed.
‘The wild fish industry has long had low profitability, and last year was an economically weak year with a profit margin of only 0.1% before tax. This is an industry that is very important for many coastal communities, but the infrastructure is not solid.’
The bright spots are that 2023 was a good year for the shrimp fishery, and the companies that saw the best revenues were those producing fishmeal and fish oil.
But the research team points out that with quota reductions in 2024 and 2025, the weak figures for 2023 may just be a harbinger of even harder times ahead, especially for whitefish processing companies. Nofima researchers suggest that seasons may become shorter and it may be even more difficult to maintain year-round employment.
While whitefish producers in particular struggle with operating margins, the profitability if klipfish, stockfish, salted fish and fresh whitefish also declined, and the same applies to the pelagic sector, all of which combines to make 2023 the weakest year in the last seven for the industry.
The outlier in all this is the shrimp sector, which has experienced better access to raw material, lower raw material prices and thanks to the weakened Norwegian currency, higher revenues for its exported products. Al this contributes to this sector’s significantly better margins and higher earnings.
