"Suppliers are becoming an increasingly important part of the Norwegian seafood industry, including through the development and delivery of technology, equipment and services," said Nofima researcher Auden Iversen.
Photo: Audin Iversen / Nofima
The Norwegian seafood industry is no longer driven mainly by activity in coastal fishing and farming communities, but by supplier and service companies concentrated in major cities, according to a new report from the research institute Nofima.
The research shows that cities including Oslo, Bergen, Ålesund, Tromsø and Trondheim now generate the highest economic returns from seafood, largely through supplying goods and services rather than producing or processing fish.
According to Nofima researcher Audun Iversen, the Norwegian seafood industry purchased goods and services worth about NOK 156 billion (approximately EUR 13.6 billion / USD 16.2 billion) in 2024, including NOK 133 billion for operations and NOK 23 billion in investments. He said this meant that supplier industries now “far exceed the core activities of the industry” in economic scale.
"Suppliers are becoming an increasingly important part of the Norwegian seafood industry, including through the development and delivery of technology, equipment and services," Iversen said.
The report explains that while fishing vessels, fish farms and processing plants remain central to the industry, the greatest value creation increasingly lies in areas such as feed, equipment, technology, logistics, finance and advisory services.
Innovation, Iversen added, is also often driven by suppliers, particularly in feed production, fish health, vaccines and packaging, alongside hundreds of small and medium-sized technology companies.
Although many large suppliers are headquartered in cities, Iversen stressed that specialist companies are still spread along the coast, supporting employment and knowledge-based jobs in smaller communities.
The analysis also highlights the growing dominance of aquaculture in Norway's seafood sector. Of total operating purchases in 2024, more than NOK 101 billion (EUR 8.8bn / USD 10.5bn) were linked to aquaculture, compared with around NOK 19 billion for fisheries. Investment showed a similar pattern, with nearly NOK 18 billion associated with aquaculture and about NOK 5 billion with fisheries.
Meanwhile, Auden said, the research shows that urban centres dominate the supplier landscape. Bergen hosted the largest number of supplier companies at 102, followed by Oslo with 100 and Tromsø with 67. In employment terms, Ålesund ranked highest, with 3,476 people working in seafood-related supplier industries, ahead of Bergen with 2,971 and Oslo with 2,585. Trondheim came in fourth in terms of both number of companies and people employed.
Overall, Nofima said, the seafood industry and its "ripple effects" supported about 103,000 jobs in Norway in 2024. Of these, just over 43,000 were in core activities such as fishing, farming and processing, while more than 60,000 were employed by suppliers.
The study also points to strong export growth for these seafood supply companies. In 2024, Norway exported fish health products worth NOK 1.4 billion and fish feed worth NOK 2.9 billion, alongside farming and processing equipment, vessels and gear with a combined value of NOK 10.7 billion (EUR 933m / USD 1.11bn).
The report, Suppliers to the Norwegian seafood industry, was prepared by a team of Nofima researchers and funded by FHF – The Fisheries and Aquaculture Industry's Research Funding as part of its long-running analysis of value creation and "ripple effects" in the sector.
