Outlook of Norwegian seafood exports to Russia in 2007

In the first ten months of the current year 2007 the Russian import of Norwegian finfish and other aquatic products peaked at 270,600 metric tons, 42% or 104,800 tonnes up on the same period last year. In value terms Russia's import of Norwegian fish amounted to 473.2 million USD, 33% up on the corresponding result of 2006, head of analytical group of Norge-Fish Ltd Timur Mitupov writes for http://www.fishnet-russia.com/ (https://www.fishnet.ru/).

According to Mitupov, taking into account seasonal fluctuations and peaking fish consumption in the fourth quarter of 2007 as well as the average monthly growth rates for fish imports, in the year 2007 the total volume of the Russian import of fish products can amount to 1,200,000 metric tons worth 1.8 million USD, while the volume of import of Norwegian finfish and other aquatic products can reach 400,000 tonnes worth 700 million USD. Thus, in 2007 the volume of the Russian import of Norwegian seafood grew by 40% as compared to 2006.

The average price per kilo in the first ten months of the current year 2007 dropped by 7% from the same period last year and amounted to 1.75 USD. According to Timur Mitupov, the decrease of the average price could be attributed to decreased export prices of Norwegian salmon and trout in Norway. More specifically, in September 2007 the average price per kilo of freshfrozen Norwegian salmon head-on amounted to 25.83 NOK (1 USD is equal to 5.6 NOK) to display a 1.84 NOK decrease on the average export price in August 2007 and a 4.80 NOK decrease on September 2006. The average price per kilo of Norwegian salmon in the first nine months of the year amounted to 26.46 NOK, 7.77 NOK down on the same period last year. The price fall could be partly attributed to growing competition and aggressive marketing and price policy of the seafood exporters from Chile.