Fourth week in a row with falling prices.
“It needs to drop a few kroner for 3-5kg. 5kg+ has been tough this week. 6kg+ is partly lower than 4-5kg. There’s no big price premium on large salmon,” an exporter told SalmonBusiness.
“Definitely no Easter rush. There’s no rush out there to get a lot of fish in place. Some farmers say they’ve received prices of NOK 97-100 ($9.40-$9.70/€8.48-€8.80). While some say it remains stable – NOK 102-103 ($9.90-$10.00/€9.00-€9.04) for 3-4 and NOK 105 ($10.20/€9.12) for 4-5kg, and NOK 109 ($10.58/€9.56) for 5-6,” said a buyer.
“It’s been going down all week, but there’s a hint that it tightened up again today. So it might be flat. I don’t know,” said an exporter. “But Easter is coming soon, so I guess it’ll be quite stable compared to last week.”
Going Down
“It’s going down, but it’s still over 100 kroner,” one farmer told SalmonBusiness. He sees the following prices for the coming week:
3-4 kg: NOK 103-105 ($9.98-$10.19/€9.05-€9.29)
4-5 kg: NOK 106-107 ($10.30-$10.39/€9.29-€9.39)
5-6 kg: NOK 109-111 ($10.58-$10.77/€9.56-€9.73)
“The 6kg+ price this week wasn’t good at all. It wasn’t far above the 5-6kg price,” he said.
The market is perceived as challenging – for several reasons.
“Now it has fallen for three weeks in a row. There’s a real drop out there. Now everything is under 100 kroner. Especially large fish has been heavy this week. 4kg+ is actually flat, somewhere between NOK 95 and 100 ($9.22-$9.70/€8.33-€8.80),” says a trader.
“But it’s because the ‘prod fish’ is under pressure. There’s a hell of a lot of ‘prodfisk,’ and several are afraid to export it out of Norway. And the price of ‘prodfisk’ is falling. ‘Prodfisk’ is just below NOK 60 ($5.82/€5.09) for 3kg+.”
Under Pressure
“Prodfisk,” or production fish, is fish with wounds and injuries that need to be corrected in Norway before it can be exported.
“There’s pressure to sell fillets too, many have inventory. Everything is under pressure actually. It’s a complicated picture. That amount of ‘prodfisk’ spoils things. When the ‘prod fillets’ out of Norway are so cheap, people won’t buy superior. It’s not very fun.”
A market picture of price decline is shared by most sources today.
“A decent decline, as we see it. Under 100 kroner for 3-4kg and 4-5kg. NOK 102 ($9.90/€9.00) for 5-6kg. It’s actually a 5kg+ price. 6kg+ is taking a beating,” says an exporter.
SalmonBusiness gathers spot prices for salmon every Friday after lunch, tracking fish to be delivered the following week. This process involves contacting multiple sources up and down the value chain, including farmers, exporters, and importers. At least five independent sources are consulted, though they may not always be publicly disclosed.
