Norwegian salmon’s market edge draws EU advisory council’s ire; industry calls for retaliation.
Director of the Danish Seafood Association, Poul Melgaard Jensen, has issued a stark warning about the growing competitive imbalance in the salmon industry, as Norwegian producers continue to gain an unfair advantage over their EU counterparts.
Speaking to SalmonBusiness, Jensen emphasized the critical disadvantages faced by the EU salmon processing industry, particularly in light of recent developments in trade relations between the EU and Norway.
“The EU salmon smoking industry is at a serious competitive disadvantage,” Jensen stated. “While EU producers must pay a 2% duty on whole Norwegian salmon used as raw material, Norwegian smoked salmon enjoys duty-free access to the EU market under the new EEA quotas, which are set to reach around 4,500 tonnes annually.”
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Jensen highlighted the uneven playing field: “Norwegian salmon producers have the upper hand, needing to pay no duty for their whole salmon as raw material into their processing industry. Adding to this, they have exclusive access to lower-priced production salmon. This serious distortion needs corrective measures.”
The situation Jensen describes has drawn significant attention from the Market Advisory Council (MAC), a key European advisory body established under the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy.
In a set of recommendations published in July, the MAC called on the European Commission to address the competitive disadvantages that have arisen due to the influx of Norwegian “production” grade salmon into the EU market.
The MAC’s advice highlights that while Norwegian law prohibits the export of whole “production” grade salmon, these fish are being processed into fillets and smoked products and then exported to the EU at lower prices.
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This creates a substantial price difference—approximately €4.30 to €4.50 per kilogram—between Norwegian fillets and those produced in the EU from higher-grade salmon.
“The market for production salmon should open up to include the full EEA area,” Jensen continued, advocating for broader market access that would help mitigate the current imbalance. “In the meantime, a tax on fillets from production fish could be introduced. And there should be a 0% duty for whole salmon to the EU when the 13% on smoked salmon is deleted. Duty on raw material and duty-free access for processed products to the EU simply makes no sense.”
