– We have seen an increase in exports of herring fillet products in 2009, but a small down-swing in frozen whole herring says Kristin Lien from the Norwegian Seafood Export Council. Even so the total volume is around the same as the corresponding period in 2008, while the prices have been higher in 2009.
Exports of pelagic fish for the first two months of 2009 were at 1.7 billion, which is an increase of 504 million or 43% in comparison to the same period in 2008. This increase is due to an increase in the export of both mackerel and capelin.
Nigeria largest market for frozen herring in February
80,000 tonnes of whole frozen herring were exported in February 2009 to a value of 319 million kroner. This corresponds to a reduction in volume of 14,000 tonnes. Nigeria has been the largest market with 23,000 tonnes, a reduction of 21,000 tonnes from 2008. Russia has been the next largest market with 21,000 tonnes as in 2008, and Ukraine has increased by 4,000 tonnes to 16,000 tonnes. Following these are Lithuania, the Netherlands, the UK and Kazakhstan.
More herring fillets
30,000 tonnes of frozen herring fillet products were exported in February 2009 to a value of 242 million kroner. This is an increase in volume of 10,000 tonnes. We see an increase for Germany, Ukraine and Belarus, and a decrease for Russia and Poland.
Capelin for Eastern Europe
In February 2009, 28,000 tonnes of frozen whole capelin were exported, primarily to Russia and Ukraine for a value of 100 million kroner.
