Cod and salmon prices leaped in the first quarter of the year due to the “general inflationary environment” and impact of sanctions on Russia, according to Mintec.
Factory-delivered Scottish salmon reached £7.90 per kg last month, an increase of almost £1.50 on December 2021, Mintec’s data shows. Norwegian wholesale frozen cod, meanwhile, hit £3.94 per kg in March, up from £3.35 in December and £2.52 in March 2021.
The higher price of cod was driven by “higher costs of fuel for fishing fleets” and increased costs such as “energy for freezing at sea and processing labour” said Ibi Idoniboye, Mintec senior market analyst.
The war in Ukraine also contributed to the increase in prices amid doubts whether Russia’s huge cod catch would make it to market, as western nations applied sanctions on parts of Russia’s economy.
The EU last week proposed limiting its intake of Russian-caught fish as part of its next round of sanctions, which include a ban on Russian ships docking at EU ports.
The UK has wavered on hiking tariffs on Russian fish imports after reports of “panic” across the sector. Seafish estimated last month that the Russian catch amounted to around a fifth of all white fish consumed in the UK. The real fraction is likely higher as Russia’s fleet takes a substantial chunk of its catch to China and Germany for processing.
According to Idoniboye, Europe and the UK get “at least 32% and 12% respectively” of their cod imports from Russia, percentages that “rise substantially considering that the EU and UK also rely on China for cod imports”.
“China imports half of its cod from Russia, which is processed and re-exported to Europe,” Idoniboye said, adding that supplies had already been tightened by a 20% cut to Norway’s and Russia’s Barents Sea quotas.
For salmon fisheries, the sources of cost inflation were fuel, feed and labour, MIntec said, with demand for UK salmon up due to disease outbreaks on farms in Norway and Chile.
“Essentially, demand substantially outweighs supply,” Mintec said, with the market further squeezed by “limited volumes in cold storage”.
The EU remained a key market for salmon fisheries in the UK, which saw exports plunge last year after reduced demand due to coronavirus-related restrictions and trade rules changed by Brexit.
While sales rebounded later in the year as businesses got to grips with the post-Brexit trade regime, UK seafood exporters were again reporting red tape headaches in early 2022 after the EU introduced a revised set of export health certificates.
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