Fixed-price contracts come to a halt as a result of the government’s tax proposal.
The uncertainty associated with the use of a so-called standard price, based on the weekly quotations on Nasdaq, has removed the market willingness to enter into long-term fixed-price contracts.
“This has dramatic consequences. Because we already see that no one dares to enter into long-term contracts, which are the basis for growth in this industry,” former PM of Norway, Erna Solberg, says to DN.
Solberg would prefer to have deferred the entire resource rent tax on salmon, and she is particularly opposed to a standard price as a tax basis. But she is open to a settlement, where other taxes for the fish farming industry are increased.
Regarding the proceeds that the government has proposed, i.e. the state’s increased tax revenue of NOK 3.6-3.8 billion (EUR 360-380 million) from the seafood industry, Solberg says that this is not an amount that scares the Conservative Party from a broad settlement, according to the newspaper.
The former prime minister says that the Conservative Party is open to the seafood industry paying more tax, and she is willing to discuss other arrangements than a land rent tax with a standard price. She says she is willing, among other things, to discuss an increase in the production tax.
“The urgent thing now is for the government to make it clear that a standard price system will not be introduced, so that the industry can start entering into fixed price contracts again,” Solberg says.
