Norway’s parliament has secured a majority to abolish the salmon industry’s norm price system and the associated Norm Price Council from the 2027 tax year, removing a disputed part of the country’s resource rent tax on aquaculture.
The majority consists of the Centre Party, Conservatives, Progress Party, Liberal Party and Christian Democrats. A formal parliamentary vote is expected next week, according to local media.
Under the current system, salmon farmers are taxed using a benchmark “norm price” based on Nasdaq salmon price data rather than actual achieved sales prices. The government introduced the mechanism alongside the resource rent tax in 2023, arguing it reduced opportunities for tax-driven pricing arrangements within vertically integrated companies.
Producers have argued the benchmark often overstates realised revenues because it primarily reflects prices for superior-quality fish, while contracts may also include lower-value production fish sold at discounts. Companies have also said the mechanism increased the risk associated with long-term fixed-price contracts.
Industry group Sjømat Norge welcomed the proposed abolition, while supporters of the change said the current system created unnecessary bureaucracy.