Top buyers of whole fish fillets.
Severe quality problems for most of the first half of the year, associated with winter blisters and jellyfish attacks, resulted in fish quantities declining significantly. Earlier this week, it became known that nearly half of the salmon caught in Moai in the first week of April were classified as “production fish,” which are fish with injuries and wounds.
Mowi is by no means the only breeder with this problem.
Production fish must be corrected before they can be exported. In practical terms, this means you cut the skin off the fish and make fillets out of it. Producers of filet mignon lines, such as Baader and Marill, reported strong demand to iLaks this spring.
Jumping
This is also seen in the export of fresh steaks.
First Seafood Fillet Line. Photo: BadirSo far this year, Norway has exported 53,662 tons of fresh salmon fillets. This is a huge increase of 29.1 percent compared to the same period in 2023, export statistics from the Norwegian Seafood Board show.
The largest buyer of fresh fillets is the USA, which received 11,363 tons. The United States is a market for fish fillets, created by Chile, and the fish travels easily by air.
But countries that typically prefer whole fish have also seen a sharp increase in fish fillets recently.
Six times as much
For example, Poland Storgrossist bought 9,737 tons of fresh steak this year – an increase of 80.1 percent. Spain, another major buyer of salmon, imported 2,918 tons of salmon fillets, representing an increase of 57.4 percent. The Netherlands, which has a large domestic processing industry, has nearly six times as many steak imports – to 3,331 tons.
While fish fillet exports are rising significantly, overall salmon exports are showing a decline.
As of week 18, Norway exported 388,461 tons of farmed salmon. This is down from 413,383 tonnes at the same time last year.
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