Food | You can get salmon from Norway at the cheapest price for three years, the background is the epidemic

Whole Norwegian salmon 8.99 euros a kilo, fillet 9.95 euros a kilo.

There are examples of fish offers at the end of the week in Finnish markets. The prices are affordable and reflect the wholesale price. You can now get salmon from Norway at the cheapest price in three yearssays the vice president Matti Isohätälä fish shop Hätälä from Oulu.

Hätälä is one of Finland’s largest fish buyers, importers, processors and wholesalers.

The background of the affordable prices is a warm summer. In northern Norway, the sea water has been even warmer than further south, and this has had two types of effects.

“The salmon have grown well, and conditions have also been favorable for salmon lice. The parasite has increased in breeding farms in northern Norway literally explosively“, says the researcher Kaija Saarni From the Natural Resources Center (Luke).

Lice are tiny crustaceans that plague both farmed and wild fish. They cause wounds to the salmon and can weaken the general condition of the fish in abundance. Pathogens can enter the salmon from the wounds, which in the worst case can kill the fish or spoil the meat.

Lice in themselves do not threaten food safety and do not prevent the use of salmon as food. However, the wounds may look unsightly, so the salmon may not be sold as a fillet with skin or as a whole, opened fish. Then the alternative is to grind the fish, for example, as a raw material for salmon sticks.

At salmon farmers there are production ceilings in Norway as in Finland. They must not be exceeded, and if there is a threat of exceeding them, the fish farmers have to slaughter the salmon. According to Saarni, the target weight of salmon raised in Norway is 4–6 kilos, but when the quota is threatened, small 1–2 kilo salmon are also slaughtered.

Number of salmon lice by fish farmers must be observed weekly. On average, there may be adult female nymphs in every second fish in the hatchery. If the number is exceeded, as has happened at many farms in Northern Norway this summer, the fish will have to be treated or slaughtered.

When fish have to be killed because of lice, more of them come to the market and the price of fish goes down because of that.

Lice are removed from salmon by, for example, spraying, medication or laser.

For example, breeding ponds are used as prevention, where it is not as easy for lice to get to as in net bags, says the leading researcher Jouni Vielma Read on. The seawater flows freely into the mesh bags, and the lice larvae come with the water.

The main reason for strict lice control is to protect wild fish from parasites, Vielma says.

in Finland According to researcher Kaija Saarni, the most popular is a small salmon, i.e. a fish weighing a kilo or two. The advantage for the Finnish consumer is that it is almost always cheaper in Norway than the big one.

“The big one is sent as air freight to Asia, the small one stays in Europe,” says Matti Isohätälä.

The price difference for salmon of all sizes is especially steep in winter. In April, the wholesale price of Norwegian salmon went according to Isohätälä historically high, i.e. more than 11 euros per kilo.

The sea water was very cold in the winter, salmon growth stopped, and slaughtering is on the cards, Isohätälä provides the reasons for the high winter prices.

The price peak in April has come crashing down to the wholesale price of just over six euros in September. Compared to a year ago, the wholesale price is now ten percent cheaper, says Isohätälä.

“It is quickly reflected in the consumer price,” he estimates.