Norwegian salmon prices fell for the fourth week in a row to their lowest level this year.
But demand should pick up again as workers in European processing industries prepare to return to work, one exporter said. “I think this will actually be the lowest price week of the year.”
Market sources said fresh salmon trades were light on Friday afternoon as buyers took a wait-and-see approach. “It’s going down, that’s for sure. The question is how much we have to go down,” said an overseas processor hoping to be able to buy for less than 5 euros ($5.03)/kg.
Many people in the market are talking about the imbalance between orders and actual demand. “Therefore, prices have fallen. We may be in NOK 50,” said an exporter, expecting prices to fall by close to NOK 5 (€0.51/$0.51)/kg from Friday.
“Now that the holidays in Norway are over, salmon have been doing well all summer. Autumn is the peak season and at the same time holidays are tapering off in many parts of Europe,” he said.
Exporters highlighted other problems in the market. “There is still a lack of packaging for frozen fish in Norway and Europe. Also, we’ve heard that processors in some places have water restrictions, which means they can’t produce properly,” he said.
Current price:
3-4 kg: NOK 52-53 (EUR 5.37-5.47/USD 5.40-5.51)/kg
4-5 kg: NOK 53-54 (EUR 5.47-5.57/USD 5.51-5.60)/kg
5-6 kg: NOK 54-56 (EUR 5.57-5.78/USD 5.51-5.82)/kg
Post time: Sep-02-2022