Norwegian exports of cod in February amounted to more than €150 million, the highest sum ever recorded for that month, the Norwegian Seafood Export Council reported.
Compared to the same month last year, that was a 24 percent increase, in particular attributed to growing exports to the Portuguese clipfish industry.
“Huge demand has been reported for cod for salting and drying in Portugal. Both salted and fresh cod form the raw material for the Portuguese clipfish industry,” explained Ove Johansen, a market analyst at the export council (NSEC).
“In addition, the Easter sales of clipfish have now really taken off, and total cod exports to Portugal increased by more than 75 percent in February”.
Overall, exports of fresh white fish products from Norwegian fisheries increased in February by more than 23 percent, as compared to the same month last year. This, also, is the highest value ever for the month of February. The most successful export product was fresh whole cod, for which the volume increased by 56 percent, or 1,356 tonnes, from last February, to a total of 3,787 tonnes this February.
As for aquaculture, exports of farmed white fish reached €3.9 million in February, 9.5 percent higher than in February 2010. Most of the growth comes from whole farmed cod, with Spain and Sweden as the dominant markets.
Only a few years ago, the oil industry passed fisheries as Norway’s main export.