Salmon prices rise by 10% new blow to British buyers: Norway levies heavy tax on fish exports
Salmon prices are on the verge of rising by as much as 10 percent, industry analysts warn.
The final blow to shoppers comes as Norway’s left-wing government plans to levy a hefty tax on the delicacy so beloved by Britain’s middle class.
Norway is the world’s largest producer, producing 1.5 million tonnes a year, and half of the UK’s farmed salmon – a whopping 35,000 tonnes – comes from the Scandinavian nation.
The Norwegian government wants to spend the tax revenue from one of its most successful industries on schools and hospitals.
Fish trade: Norway is the world’s largest producer, producing 1.5 million tonnes a year, and half of the UK’s farmed salmon – a staggering 35,000 tonnes – comes from the Scandinavian nation
Lance Forman, owner of London-based H Forman and Sons, which supplies leading restaurants as well as Harrods, said: ‘We all know it’s coming.
Prices could go up 10 percent or more and the worry is that at some point the average customer will say, ‘I can’t afford this.’
Despite lobbying efforts from the salmon giants, the tax is expected to be approved by parliament in the coming weeks.
The tax raid could lead to an influx from Chile, the world’s second-largest salmon exporter. But the salmon industry has been hit by outbreaks of the salmonid rickettsial septicemia disease.
This means that Chilean salmon farmers use a lot of chemicals, pesticides and antibiotics.
Ivan Vindheim, boss of Norwegian salmon breeder Mowi, called the tax “anti-business” and added that the proposals were a “dark cloud for the Norwegian salmon industry.”