Salmon “the locomotive” driving Norway’s seafood exports to the US

The Norwegian Seafood Council says sales of salmon to the United States rose by almost 50% during January.

Seafood sales of all types totalled 10,000 tonnes during the month, a volume increase of 48%. Measured in value, the increase was 55%.

Salmon “was the locomotive” driving sales which were worth NOK 583m (£48m) last month.

The Council says the US market is opening up as the number of coronavirus cases is falling, and has been for some time. So too is the number of new infections and deaths.

The US is starting to re-open after two years of restrictions varying from state to state, and for seafood this is reflected with the return of the Boston Seafood Show, taking place between March 13-15.

The Seafood Council said the US was the second largest growth market for salmon, with an increase of NOK 192m million (+ 49%) to NOK 583m. The increase in exports for fresh whole salmon was particularly strong, due more restaurants reopening and easier air transport.

“In the case of fresh fillets, the volume increased from 4,000 tonnes last year to 5,000 tonnes this year,” it adds. “Frozen fillets ended up at about 1,300 tonnes, the same as in January last year.”

It explains: “Fresh and frozen fillets are used primarily in households, and the amount that goes with them is significantly greater than it was before the corona pandemic occurred. This is a result of consumers becoming better at cooking salmon at home once they have been referred to it.”

Trout sales to the US in January £4.6m) also performed strongly, rising by 34% to 725 tonnes and worth NOK 54m (£4.5m).

It was a similar story for cod and haddock with cod sales from NOK 23m (£1.9m) to NOK 55m (£4.6m).

Haddock did even better in percentage terms rising from NOK 7m (£580,000) to NOK 34m (£2.8m).