13% Growth in Norwegian Atlantic Salmon Exports in 2021

As Norwegian Atlantic Salmon exports in 2021 saw growth, supply to other markets surged by 30%.

In this edition’s topic, we touch on the key highlights of the salmon year for the world’s largest Atlantic salmon supplier, with Norway’s harvest and supply volume under the microscope.

Harvesting 1 529 400 tonnes (wfe) in 2021, Norway recorded a 12% growth in volumes compared to 2020, reaching all-time harvest volume. As for exports, the growth was slightly higher, with a total of 1 486 200 tonnes representing a growth of 13% YoY.

70.8% of Norway’s harvest quantity last year headed to the EU + UK, amounting to 1 082 700 tonnes, up 9% from 2020. This was all-time high supply volume from Norway to the EU + UK. However, the EU + UK share decreased from 2020, dropping from 72,6% to 70,8%. In fact, this was the lowest share of Norwegian volumes to the EU + UK market since 2017 (69,7%).

As for the US market, exports totalled 81 300 tonnes in 2021 (+19% YoY), representing a share of 5,3%. This was up from 5.0% in 2020, although it was higher in 2017 and 2018, with US shares of 5,7% and 5,4%, respectively. Norwegian supply to the Japanese market surged to 50 500 tonnes in 2021 (+17 YoY). This represents a 3,3% share of Norway’s harvest volume, which is slightly up from the preceding year. Still, it is far below when the Japanese market in the 90s was more important for Norwegian salmon exports, with shares around 10% of Norwegian volumes.

Supply to Other Markets was all-time high by a distance in 2021, amounting to 271 700 tonnes. This was an increase 62 100 tonnes (30%) compared to 2020. The share of Norwegian volumes going to Other Markets was also all-time high, rising from 15,3% in 2020 to 17,8% in 2021. South Korea was the country among Other Markets to which Norway supplied the largest volumes, amounting to 44 600 tonnes (+25% YoY). Ukraine was the second-largest market within Other Markets, with Norwegian supply totalling 29 600 tonnes in 2021, which was an increase of 51% YoY. China was ranked third, with a 50% growth in supply from Norway, with volumes reaching 29 300.

This is an extraction from the biweekly report Aquaculture Bulletin. Subscribe to the report here.

Image: Shutterstock by GaudiLab