Fish counter in a supermarket in Angers, France, displaying Norwegian seafood products.
Photo: Norwegian Seafood Council.
After a year of moderate growth in Norwegian seafood exports in 2025, they continued to fall in February 2026, confirming the downward trend that began in January. Norway exported seafood worth NOK 13.8 billion, which, year-on-year, represented a decrease of NOK 262 million, or 2%.
"Lower supplies of shellfish and wild-caught fish due to quota reductions, combined with a still troubled world and trade barriers, are affecting the market, product flows and prices even more strongly than we have experienced before," the CEO of the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC), Christian Chramer, said, explaining the reasons behind the decrease.
"The start of this year has therefore been more demanding than last year," Chramer added. The figures bear him out. In the first two months of the year, Norway exported seafood worth NOK 28.5 billion, which, compared to the first two months of 2025, represented a decrease of 2.7% or NOK 777 million.
In addition, there was another factor that affected the decline in exports. As the Norwegian Seafood Council noted in its February 2024 seafood exports report, the strengthening of the Norwegian krone also contributed to the weakening of export value.
"When the krone strengthens, the value of exports measured in Norwegian kroner falls. This means that we no longer have the positive currency effect of a weaker krone," the NSC CEO explained. Thus, although the value of exports measured in Norwegian kroner decreased in February, both when measured in euros and dollars, it registered an increase compared to the same month of the previous year.
In February 2026, aquaculture accounted for 72% of total Norwegian seafood exports, with Norway exporting farmed fish worth NOK 9.96 billion, an increase of NOK 348 million compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, also last month, exports from fisheries fell by 13%, or NOK 610 million, to NOK 3.86 billion.
Last month, 97,463 tons of salmon worth NOK 9.4 billion were exported. The value increased by NOK 458 million, or 5%, year-on-year, while volume grew by 10%. Poland, China and France were the largest markets for Norwegian salmon in February.
However, even though both the volume and price of exported salmon increased, and although the prices of mackerel, cod, saithe, trout and haddock also increased, the positive impact that all this had on the value of exports was not enough to compensate for the decrease in the volume of several wild-caught species.
"The export volume of fresh wild cod was the lowest in February since 2009, while the volume of mackerel more than halved compared with the same month last year. This development is not only challenging for seafood exports, but has dramatic consequences for the onshore industry, which is now experiencing very tough economic times," said Christian Chramer.
Specifically, Norway exported 4,006 tons of fresh cod worth NOK 392 million in February, which means that value was unchanged from the same month last year, but volume fell by 15%. However, figures from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries showed that landings of fresh cod last month were the lowest recorded since statistics began in 2013.
For fresh wild cod, export volume fell by 21%, while export value decreased by 4%. Lower cod quotas and a decline in landings even resulted in lower exports of skrei. For fresh farmed cod, which accounted for 29% of the export value of fresh cod, export volume fell by 3%, while export value increased by 12%. Denmark, Poland, and the Netherlands were the main markets for Norwegian fresh cod in February.
If we talk about all the seafood species exported by Norway last month, both from aquaculture and wild-catch, the main destination markets were Poland, China and the United States.
Although it ranked second as an export destination, with an increase of NOK 430 million, or 54%, year-on-year, China was the market that registered the largest value growth in February. The Asian giant accounted for 8.9% of the value of Norwegian seafood exports, compared to 5.7% in the same month of 2015.
China also saw the largest increase in the value of Norwegian salmon exports in February, with a year-on-year rise of NOK 570 million, or 107%. In terms of volume, Norway exported 11,512 tons of salmon to China in February, representing a 126% increase compared to the same month of the previous year.
As WeAreAquaculture reported, the week before the start of the Lunar New Year holiday—February 17th, marked the beginning of the Chinese New Year celebrations—export volumes of whole fresh Norwegian salmon skyrocketed.
"The Chinese New Year celebrations follow the lunar calendar and this year fell in mid-February. Significant volumes of salmon were shipped to China ahead of the holiday," explained the Norwegian Seafood Council's envoy to China, Sigmund Bjørgo.
"The distribution of salmon has improved in China over the past year, which has increased availability. Norwegian salmon can now be purchased in more stores, on social media and in neighbourhood shops and can be delivered to customers' homes within half an hour. In addition, gift packs of salmon were a major driver of the huge growth in Chinese salmon consumption during this year's Chinese New Year celebrations," he added.
Faced with the good results of China, in February 2026, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council report, Norwegian salmon exports to the United States fell the most in February. Compared with the same month last year, the decrease was of 34%, or NOK 339 million.
"Exports of fresh fillets to the U.S. saw the biggest decline. This must be seen in the light of customs duties, increased uncertainty about future trade conditions, increased competition from other producer nations and a weakened US dollar," explained the seafood analyst of the NSC, Paul T. Aandahl.
Nevertheless, this decline was not limited to salmon. In February 2026, 7.5% of Norwegian seafood exports went to the U.S., compared with 11.5% in the same month last year. Norway exported seafood to the U.S. worth NOK 1 billion, which meant a decrease of NOK 568 million, or 36%, compared with the same month in 2025.
"Most of the decline is in fresh salmon fillets, but several other species and products also fell significantly. King crab, snow crab, frozen salmon fillets and fresh whole salmon have a sharp decline in exports to the U.S. compared to last year," said the NSC CEO.
In January, the United States had already dropped out of the top 3 in value of Norwegian seafood exports, with the value of exports having fallen by 37%. Following February data, compared with the same period last year, in the first two months of the year, the decline in the US market totalled NOK 1.1 billion, or 36%.
However, while the flow of exports that previously went to the U.S. is shifting to China, Europe remains a strong market. Last month, Norway exported seafood to Europe totalling NOK 8.6 billion, the same amount as 12 months ago.
"Even though an increasingly troubled world is having a major impact on both logistics and demand for Norwegian seafood, our main market, Europe, is holding its own. Together with growth in China, this helped to limit the impact of the U.S. downturn in February," Christian Chramer stated.
As for the other species, February was a weak month for trout. Norway exported 4,557 tons of trout worth NOK 446 million. Year-on-year, the value fell by NOK 117 million, or 21%, while volume fell by 23%. Interestingly, last month, the U.S. was the largest market for Norwegian trout—volume grew by 17%—followed by Ukraine and Thailand.
The same was not true for herring, which had a solid February with 44,475 tons exported, representing a 67% increase in volume, worth NOK 703 million. The value increased by NOK 203 million, or 40%, compared to the same month in 2025. Egypt, Denmark, and Lithuania were the largest markets for Norwegian herring in February.
Meanwhile, the mackerel season that started in August last year ended in February, and figures from Norges Sildesalgslag (Norwegian Herring Sales Association, Europe's leading marketplace for first-hand sales of pelagic fish) showed that a total of 185,000 tons of mackerel were landed in the 2025/2026 season, which was a decrease of 44% with the 2024/2025 season. Last month, Norway exported 8,311 tons of mackerel, down 56%, worth NOK 423 million, down 31%, compared to February last year. South Korea, Lithuania and Vietnam were the largest markets.
Likewise, it was also a weak month for king crab. In February, 151 tons worth NOK 97 million were exported, that is, year-on-year, the volume fell by 32%, while the value fell by 47%. The United States, Tunisia and Canada were the largest markets for Norwegian king crab last month.
Regarding snow crab, Norway exported 1,798 tons worth NOK 309 million, which means that, compared with the same month last year, while the volume fell by 5%, the value fell by 34%. As in the case of king crab, for snow crab, the United States was also the largest market in February, in this case followed by Canada and Denmark.
Finally, as for prawns, 612 tons worth NOK 66 million were exported. Compared with the same month in 2025, in February 2026, volume fell by 78%, and the value fell by 57%. Last month, Sweden, the UK and Finland were the largest markets for Norwegian prawns.