(undercurrentnews) A further increase in the prices for Norwegian longline haddock is surprising even sellers. Prices for headed and gutted (H&G) small haddock (up to 800 grams) are now at $4,800 per metric ton, compared to $4,650/mt at the start of February, sources toldUndercurrent News.
“I did not expect prices to go so high,” one Norwegian seller told Undercurrent.
Although the USD/NOK exchange rate is making the price seem higher in dollars for export, it is also up in kroner on the auctions.
“Over the last two months, I have been buying the small haddock at NOK 25/50-26/kg,” another source told Undercurrent. This week, prices are at NOK 26.85/kg, he said.
The prices for the large haddock are also still high, at well over $5,000/mt in dollar terms, he said. Larger haddock are more stable in price, however, with the increase coming more from the dollar exchange rate.
Demand in the US, UK and China along with small volumes is driving the price. This has been exacerbated by ten of the Norwegian longline fleet switching to catch cod and saithe.
“It seems like there will be strong prices for a while,” he said.
“If you want longline haddock, you are going to have to pay for it,” said a source with a trader, mainly dealing in trawl-caught whitefish.
Trawl-caught haddock H&G has stabilized at around $4,100/mt, he said.
For cod, H&G trawl-caught prices are still at $2,850-$2,900/mt for the 1-2 kilogram cod. Prices for the larger fish still lower, but stable.
“Everyone thought that when we had this glut of fish, the market would totally crash. But, you have to remember; there is 150,000 metric tons less haddock in the Barents Sea,” he said.
Longline cod prices are up somewhat, with the H&G price for 1-2.5kg at $3,050-$3,100/mt, with “not the greatest volumes available”, said the first longline source.
Eyes on EU, Norway talks
The eyes of Norway’s longline fleet are — as with the rest of the whitefish sector — on the delayed 2014 bilateral fishing agreement between the European Union.
This is hitting fleets in Norway and the EU, as they are stuck since early January waiting for licenses to fish in their traditional zones, said industry players.
As the EU-Norway talks are wrapping up in Bergen, the industry is eagerly hoping for news of an agreement on quota swaps already this Friday (Feb. 14) or Saturday. However, there are also fears that the repeated failures to reach agreements on Northeast Atlantic mackerel could compromise chances of a quick deal.