Friday, January 14, 2011

Slow boat to China for Scottish Salmon

The Shetland salmon industry has welcomed a trade deal between Scotland and China, saying it could help maintain high prices over the next few years while production expands by more than a third. The price of salmon has been at an all time high of around UK£4 a kilo since disease problems in Chile brought US buyers to Scotland and Norway looking to feed their appetite for farmed fish. Meanwhile growing demand in Europe, particularly from France, shows no signs of abating.

The Scottish industry had already been planning to expand current production of around 140,000 tonnes - half of which is exported by a further 50,000 tonnes over the next few years. However such increases will struggle to meet potential demand from such an enormous market as China, which is already importing 217,000 tonnes of salmon products every year 150 percent of total Scottish production. Last year Scottish salmon exports to China rose by 42 percent to more than 8,000 tonnes.

Shetland Aquaculture general manager David Sandison said the industry had learned the dangers of rapid expansion from the problems it experienced 10 years ago, when rising production led to a price collapse that saw all but the largest businesses survive. Shetland experienced a huge loss of confidence in the industry when several salmon firms went under, losing several millions from the public purse along the way. Read more...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers.

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