Record export of Norwegian herring

Photo: Seafoodfromnorway.com

1.2 billion kroner’s worth of herring has been exported in the first two months of this year, an increase of 238 million or 25%. The herring export has never had greater value in the same period than in 2009, as shown by figures released by the Norwegian Seafood Export Council (NSEC) and Statistics Norway.

“We have seen an increase in exports of herring fillet products in 2009, but a small down-swing in frozen whole herring,” says Kristin Lien at NSEC. Even so the total volume is around the same as the corresponding period in 2008, while the prices have been higher in 2009. Exports of pelagic fish for the first two months of 2009 were at 1.7 billion, which is an increase of 504 million or 43% in comparison to the same period in 2008. This increase is due to an increase in the export of both mackerel and capelin.

Nigeria has been the largest market for frozen herring in February, followed by and Ukraine, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the UK and Kazakhstan. NSEC has seen an export of herring fillets increase for Germany, Ukraine and Belarus, and a decrease for Russia and Poland. In February 2009, 28,000 tonnes of frozen whole capelin were exported, primarily to Russia and Ukraine for a value of 100 million kroner.

Source: Seafoodfromnorway.com