Norway had more fish but less volume in salmon farms last month
Norway, the world’s biggest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon, had a smaller volume of fish in the sea at the end of January than at the same time last year or the year before.
There were 778,000 tonnes of fish in the sea at the end of last month, 1% less than at the same time last year and 6% less than in 2021. But the figure is higher than January 2020, when biomass amounted to 756,000 tonnes.
At 105,000 tonnes, exported volume was 6% lower in January 2023 than the same month the previous year, while the value of NOK 8.9 billion (£715.1 million) was 25% up.
12 million smolts
Norwegian salmon farmers stocked 12 million salmon smolts last month, 32% fewer than in January 2022.
As of 31 January, there were 437 million salmon in the cages. This was 2% more than in January last year. At the same time, the average weight per fish was 3% lower.
Feed consumption was 123 tonnes in January, 5% more than in the first month of last year.
After two relatively cold winters, the sea temperature is currently (5.65 degrees), slightly above the average for the last ten years (5.25 degrees) at this time of year.
