Norwegian seafood exports to the USA have increased tenfold in ten years.
As the global demand for seafood continues to grow, the United States has emerged as an increasingly important market for Norwegian salmon exports, according to data released by the Norwegian Seafood Council on Tuesday.
The shift comes as the devaluation of the Norwegian krone spurred a 15 percent jump in seafood exports in August, reaching NOK 14.2 billion ($1.3 billion), a rise of NOK 1.8 billion ($168 million) from the same month last year.
Over the past 10 years, Norwegian seafood exports to the USA have increased tenfold. While the export value in the first half of 2013 was NOK 688 million ($64 million), it was NOK 6.9 billion ($641 million) in the first six months of the year.
In August, Norway reported a 24 percent increase in seafood export value to the US, translating to a noteworthy NOK 1.5 billion ($140 million). This surge positions the US as one of Norway’s top three seafood markets, alongside Poland and Denmark.
Accounting for 10.4 percent of Norway’s overall seafood exports for August, the US market has not held such significance for Norwegian exporters in decades, according to Christian Chramer, a spokesperson for the council.
Exports to the USA had the greatest increase in value in the first half of the year, with an increase of NOK 1.7 billion, or 34 per cent, compared to the first half of last year.
“High food inflation has affected purchasing power in Europe to a greater extent than in our overseas markets. In the US, however, we see that food price inflation has now levelled off”, wrote Chramer, when discussing Norway’s increasing exports to the US earlier this summer.
“Measured in value, 8 percent of seafood exports in the first half of the year went to the USA. The value share has grown steadily over the past 10 years, so here we are talking about a success story for Norwegian seafood exports. The US market has also had the greatest growth both this year, the last 5 years, and the last 10 years”, says Christian Chramer.
“Salmon is the export engine to the USA. In the first half of the year, it accounted for 79 percent of the value, but trout, king crab and snow crab are also important species in the American market”, explained the Seafood Council’s managing director.
Despite this growth, the cost of air transport across the Atlantic is expected to continue to keep Norway-based salmon farmers at a disadvantage to compared to their Canadian and Chilean competitors.
