Capelin freezing suspended

Freezing capelin has been brought to a halt at HB Grandi's Vopnafjördur factory for the moment. The decision was taken due to uncertainty on frozen capelin markets, which have tended to grow since Russian producers have been offering low-price frozen capelin from the Barents Sea on the same markets that Icelandic producers supply, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to HB Grandi.

This was announced by Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson, head of HB Grandi's pelagic division, who added that all of the capelin so far frozen this season has been sold. As prices for fish meal and fish oil are favourable, the decision was taken to concentrate on those markets rather than build up stocks of frozen capelin.

Capelin fishing has been going well in spite of difficult weather conditions. Ingunn AK is on the way to Akranes with full tanks and is scheduled to dock on Friday evening. In the previous trip, Ingunn landed 1140 tonnes of capelin to Vopnafjördur, where Lundey NS also landed a full trip of 1580 tonnes yesterday. Lundey is now back on the fishing grounds and Faxi RE, which has been fishing for pearlside, is now heading for capelin grounds as well.