Exports of herring from EU
Exports of frozen herring from EU increased from 2001 to 2002 by 26 000 MT to 183 000 MT. To Nigeria, the largest market for EU, exports increased by 21 000 MT. Egypt and Croatia were the second and third largest export markets for EU in 2002.

Exports of herring from Iceland
Iceland exported 13 000 MT herring products the first 3 months this year (January-March), which is a halving of exports compared to the same period of 2002. Exports of frozen herring fillets fell to 7 000 MT. Of these, 1 000 MT went to Poland, 1 000 MT to Lithuania, 1 000 MT to France and 2 000 MT to Norway.

Price for Frozen Herring Fillets, January 2002 - April 2003

Source: Hagstofa, Iceland

Exports of Herring from Norway
The exports of frozen herring from Norway for the first five months of 2003 (January-May) were 123 000 MT (product weight) against 131 000 MT in the same period of 2002. Exports of frozen herring to Russia - the main market - has increased by 5 000 MT to 82 000 MT. Exports of herring fillets from Norway to Poland was reduced by 6 500 MT to only 4 500 MT. The herring from Norway and the herring from EU are exported to very different markets, as visible from the graphs, and in different quantity. Nigeria imports as much from EU in one year as Russia does from Norway in 5 months.

Source: Norwegian Seafood Export Council/SSB

The first part of 2002 was a period with unusually high prices, then came a sharp decline in the middle of the year and since then prices have stabilized at a quite low level. For whole frozen herring prices have slightly increased in the last couple of months.

Prices for Frozen Herring Fillets, January 2002 - May 2003