New American journey for Norwegian salmon
Photo: Tom Haga
After six year of absence from the American market the Norwegian Seafood Export Council (NSEC) has decided to renew its investment in the U.S. The budget in one of the world’s largest seafood markets will be 10 million kroner in 2009. The investment comes as a direct consequence of the challenges in the Chilean seafood industry.
“The close dialogue with the branch group for salmon and trout and the Norwegian seafood industry NSEC has decided to renew its market presence as rapidly as possible. A dramatic fall in Chilean production has meant that actors in the U.S.are now extremely interested in working with Norwegian salmon,” explains branch manager Børge Grønbech.
Norwegian fresh whole salmon has had a punitive duty in the U.S. of 26% since 1991. This, together with the fact that Chile has contributed to developing a market for fresh salmon fillets, has meant that Norwegian actors have focused much less on the U.S.: Now Chilean salmon production is expected to fall dramatically as a result of sickness, and Norwegian salmon will again have an interesting market in the west.
“In the first instance we will work at obtaining an overview of the market, flow of goods, possibilities and any challenges. At the same time we are very clear that the decline in Chile puts the U.S. market in a serious situation. We will therefore work rapidly so that the salmon market in the USA is not weakened,” says Grønbech.
The major product for the U.S. is fresh salmon fillets. So far this year more than 2100 tons of fresh salmon fillets have been exported to the U.S. with a value of 114 million kroner, which is an increase of 280 percent for the first quarter.
Source: Seafoodfromnorway.com
