Price of Finnish fish continues to rise sharply
Perch and pike-perch fillets around EUR 30 a kilo
As a result of the decreased supply and increasing fish processing, the price of Finnish fish is increasing constantly. A third reason for high prices is an increase in exports.
White fish, including pike-perch, sell well abroad.
Particularly German and Swiss consumers favour pike-perch and perch, while Swedish, Estonian, Russian, Japanese, and French buyers prefer Finnish roe.
According to calculations made by Statistics Finland and commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat, the price of fresh fish has more than doubled since the beginning of the millennium. Since 2005, the price has gone up by more than 30 %.
However, last month the price of rainbow trout was on the 2005 level, while prices for salmon were slightly lower than in 2005.
In 2007, the total export of fish and fish products was 39 million kilos. The amount was the largest in the statistical period which started in 1980.
Pike-perch comes largely from Estonia ready filleted. In Finland, pike-perch catches are small, and because of the poor supply, the price of Estonian pike-perch is the same as that of domestic fish. Previously Estonian pike-perch used to be cheaper.
”The shortage of pike-perch is so acute that whatever the price, everything sells”, says Mikko Komsa, the managing director of the Helsinki-based fish wholesaler Helsingin Kalatukku.
According to Komsa, the wholesaler pays around EUR 20 a kilo for filleted pike-perch. After the retailer has added its own margin, the price for the customer can be more than EUR 40/kilo.
Pirjo Hellman, the purchasing manager for food at Stockmann’s, says that the current price for perch and pike-perch is close to EUR 30 per kilo, while the prices for salmon and rainbow trout vary considerably. A couple of weeks ago, the 20% duty imposed on the import of Norwegian rainbow trout was lifted.
Hellman believes that at least the offer price of Norwegian salmon is bound to go down. The current price of Norwegian salmon is around EUR 15, while the offer price is below EUR 6/kg.
”The law of supply and demand is valid even in fish business. Increasing demand is likely to raise the price”, Hellman concludes.
The producer prices of fish have also gone up, by some 10 % in 2007. The producer price for common whitefish was EUR 3.70 per kilo on average, while that for pike-perch was close to EUR 4.00, and that for burbot EUR 3.51.
Vendace caught in saltwater cost EUR 1.24 per kilo and in fresh water EUR 1.95 per kilo.
The producer prices of salmon and rainbow trout grown in fisheries have declined somewhat. For salmon the fisherman could get slightly more than EUR 4.00 on average, and for grown rainbow trout EUR 3.37 per kilo.
Top quality common whitefish weighing in at more than 800 kilograms brought the fisherman EUR 4.87 per kilo on average.
However, the salmon is still the king of the fish counter. It is the most important client-puller and the favourite fish of consumers.
The offer price of salmon is less than EUR 6.00 per kilo. Some 70 % of all fresh fish sold is salmon. However, the proportion of fresh fish in retail stores is only 30 % of all fish available, as various processed fish products have become popular among consumers.
A further consideration is that inshore fishing catches have decreased considerably over the past 10 years. Professional fishermen caught 1,157 tons of whitefish in saltwater fishing grounds off the Finnish coast in 1997, while last year the catch was only 658 tons.
Moreover, the catches of pike, salmon, pike-perch, burbot, bream, vendace, turbot, and sea trout were last year considerably smaller than a decade ago.
The main reason for the diminishing coastal fishing catches is the fact that the number of professional fishermen has gone down. More and more fishermen give up fishing, and there are no newcomers to the field to replace them.
At the turn of the millennium, the number of professional fishermen was around 1,000, while at present the number is fewer than 700.
Links:
Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 25.8.2008 - TODAY |
Price of Finnish fish continues to rise sharply
|
|
