A fine balance in the market.
“There is only a small lift this week, up a couple of kroner. Toward the end of the week it seemed to clear out, and the price ticked up at the close,” an exporter tells SalmonBusiness.
“There is a lot of fish, we depend on the freezing program in Europe being maintained. We are not eating all the fish that is being sold now. Customers say that if the price goes up, we stop freezing, and then the price drops like a stone again.”
Trying higher
“What we are hearing offered to farmers is:”
2 to 3 kg: NOK 52.00 ($5.15/€4.42)
3 to 4 kg: NOK 57.00 ($5.64/€4.85) to NOK 58.00 ($5.74/€4.93)
4 to 5 kg: NOK 59.00 ($5.84/€5.02) to NOK 60.00 ($5.94/€5.10)
5 to 6 kg: NOK 61.00 ($6.04/€5.19) to NOK 62.00 ($6.14/€5.27)
6+ kg: NOK 65.00 ($6.44/€5.53)
“That is the price customers abroad are being offered, based on us keeping a small margin. I know people are trying to get higher prices than this, but we strongly doubt customers will pay them,” he adds.
Export volumes have been at record highs in recent weeks. Over three weeks, more than 113,000 tonnes of salmon have been exported from Norway alone. Much of this volume is going straight into frozen storage.
Large quantities are being frozen
“We expect that about 30 percent of what is exported is being frozen, based on what we hear from customers. They are freezing to have fish for the first half of next year. That dynamic is really important, keeping this moving. It is decisive.”
That would mean freezing 10,000 to 12,000 tonnes of Norwegian salmon per week. In addition comes fish from other origins, not least Chile, which has a lot of fish to sell.
Several sources confirm a market with rising prices.
“A little higher. NOK 58.00 ($5.74/€4.93), NOK 60.00 ($5.94/€5.10) and NOK 63.00 ($6.24/€5.36) for 3 to 6 kg,” a buyer tells SalmonBusiness.
Freezing abroad
“Yes, that is what they are talking about. A little bit up. NOK 60.00 ($5.94/€5.10) to NOK 65.00 ($6.44/€5.53). Around there,” says a trader.
He also notices a considerable degree of freezing.
“With such large volumes it is clear that product is being frozen. The countries that take in the most are probably freezing the most. I do not think that much is being frozen here at home.”
“We cannot expect big price swings as things look now,” he adds.
A buyer, however, does not expect prices that high.
“No, too high. Enormous volumes. A brief spurt in the market gave optimism, but the market pulled back when prices increased,” he says.
