Prices of salmon, rainbow trout soar in 2017

Fishermen in the country received a higher than average price for salmon last year than in 2016, said the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) in a press release on Wednesday.

In addition, the producer price of rainbow trout was the highest in the 2000s. However, the producer prices of other fish did not differ much from that in the previous year.

The producer prices of salmon and rainbow trout increased significantly in 2016 and continued to rise further in 2017.

The reason for the high prices in 2016 was an increase in the global market price of salmon, largely resulting from the difficulties faced by the fisheries in Chile.

Financially, Baltic herring is the most important fish in commercial fishing in Finland. However, its producer price in last year remained at the 2016 level. The price of Baltic herring defined as a food appropriate for human consumption decreased slightly, while the price of Baltic herring defined as feed remained relatively unchanged.

The major portion of the total Baltic herring catch is used as a raw material by the feed industry, which is why the slide of a couple of cents in the price of Baltic herring used for human consumption has had no significant effect on the total price of Baltic herring. The feed produced from Baltic herring is used mainly in fur and fish farming.

In 2017, approximately three quarters of Baltic herrings used for human consumption and two-thirds of Baltic herrings used as feed were caught by the end of June.

The price of Baltic herring was higher at the beginning of the year than later in spring. The price of Baltic herring used for human consumption, on the other hand, was higher in autumn than in spring, when more fish was available on the market.