Norwegian Seafood Council strengthens industry ties with new market group heads

The Norwegian Seafood Council has announced new leaders for three of its five key advisory market groups, made up of 41 representatives from across Norway's seafood industry.

Each market group focuses on a specific category of seafood: salmon and trout, whitefish, pelagic species (such as herring and mackerel), shrimp and shellfish, and "conventional" seafood (traditional preserved seafood such as clipfish, salted fish, and stockfish).

“The five market groups play a very important role in the Seafood Council’s marketing efforts, where market and budget priorities, strategic direction in individual markets, and involvement of exporters in operational marketing activities are key,” said Børge Grønbech, Director of Global Operations at the Seafood Council, welcoming the new appointees and members.

Erik Holvik, who is Commercial Director at Grieg Seafood, now takes the helm of the market group for salmon and trout. In a press release, Holvik he was "grateful to be asked to take on the leadership role", adding "I’m from Måløy and grew up with the seafood industry, so I feel an extra sense of pride in getting to work on behalf of the quality products of Norway, the seafood nation. It’s extremely rewarding to work on promoting Norwegian seafood."

“A lot of good work has been done over many years to market Norwegian seafood globally. That strong position is especially important to manage now, in challenging times. As the framework changes quickly, the industry must be able to adapt and collaborate effectively,” Holvik continued.

“In this work, both origin marketing and the new species strategies of the Council are essential, as all species are impacted by the current market instability,” he added.

The new whitefish lead is Stian Hjelle, CEO of Ervik Seafood AS, who has over 20 years of experience in the Norwegian seafood industry, covering a wide variety of species including salmon, pelagics, whitefish, snow crab and shrimp.

“I’ve literally grown up in the seafood industry and have witnessed the importance of the Council over several decades. The way it has united the industry in international markets, for both large and small players across salmon and other species, has undoubtedly been a success for Norway,” Hjelle said.

“It’s essential to develop strategies that can increase visibility and demand in international markets. As leader, I’ll ensure we discuss the big issues and include input from the entire team moving forward,” he added.

The final leader named this week is Leif Haagensen, Managing Director of Jangaard Export, who will head the "conventional" seafood market group.

Haagensen welcomed the Council's development of marketing strategies focused on different species, and said that dialogue with the seafood industry via market groups "ensures legitimacy and enables valuable discussions on market trends, identification of growth opportunities, resource and budget use, and development of species strategies, as we did throughout 2024."

“The Council has developed new species strategies, which are necessary to maintain and expand market positions during times of resource challenges and changing consumer habits. The conventional market group has a broad portfolio of products and markets to consider, and the group's input - along with input from other industry players - helps strengthen the position of clipfish, salted fish, and stockfish,” Haagensen said.