The country's salmon exports reached 728,500 tonnes in the first half of 2025, setting a new record in volume terms © Shutterstock
The first half (H1) of 2025 was anything but ordinary from a global trade perspective – thanks to a potent cocktail of factors including planned US tariff hikes, geopolitical conflicts and widespread inflation.
While such conditions could be expected to cause many sectors of the economy to stagnate or contract, that was not the case for Norwegian salmon exports – which hit a new high, in volume terms, in the first six months of the year.
Compared to the same period in 2024, salmon exports were 21 percent up, reaching 728,500 tonnes, up from 604,000 tonnes whole fish equivalent (WFE)*.
Meanwhile the export value was 57.8 billion NOK, compared to 56.2 billion NOK the previous year, a growth less robust than in volumes. This was the result of falling average prices, caused at least partially by the glut in the Norwegian salmon supply. H1 harvest figures in Norway were higher in 2025 than in the previous years, strengthening the global supply as Norway accounts for more than half of the world’s farmed Atlantic salmon quantities.
In terms of the key salmon products, we will focus on the following categories, as these make up >90 percent of all exported volumes:
1. Fresh head-on-gutted (HOG)
2. Frozen HOG
3. Fresh fillets
4. Frozen fillets
Noteworthy levels of growth characterised most of these product categories, but the increase was particularly strong for fresh HOG, which is the largest product category by far and increased by 29 percent, reaching 457,000 tonnes, compared to 354,000 tonnes in H1 2024, a remarkable statement regarding the demand for Norwegian salmon globally.
The only key category which experienced a slight decline were fresh fillets, which contracted by 3 percent - falling from 75,700 tonnes in 2024 H1 to 73,800 tonnes this year.
Key dynamics across product groups and regions
The strongest market for Norwegian salmon is still Europe. However, this comes with a disclaimer that some of the key European importers of Norway’s salmon, such as Poland and Denmark, mainly buy the fresh whole fish from Norway for further processing and then re-export them as a variety of products.
Europe’s imports of fresh HOG climbed by a noteworthy 21 percent, reaching 347,000 tonnes compared to 285,000 tonnes in the same period last year. This is mainly due to the increased demand from a couple of key countries, such as Poland (an increase of 46,000 to 61,000 tonnes fresh HOG) or The Netherlands (an increase from 31,000 to 43,000 tonnes fresh HOG). When it comes to fillets, the key markets look a bit more diverse, with Asia and the Americas having a large and increasing share of Norway’s overall fillet exports.
In H1, Asia ramped up its overall salmon imports from Norway by 39 percent, increasing from 121,000 to 168,000 tonnes, while the Americas as a region grew 41 percent and reached almost 65,000 tonnes by the end of June.
Generally, the exact product mix of each importing country is a result of local consumption preferences, importing efficiencies, geographical proximity, and a range of other factors. For example, countries relatively close to Norway which do further processing will import fresh whole in large quantities, whereas overseas markets which may import mostly for retail or restaurant segments would likely buy more fillets. These trends can also shift over time, and nations importing more whole fish in the past can inch towards a preference for more fillets or other value-added products. Such was the case of Japan, which between 2012 and 2022 gradually shifted from importing mostly whole fish to importing dominantly fresh and frozen fillets from Norway.
Who’s leading the growth?
Let’s look at some of Norway’s key trade partners in a bit more detail. In 2025, so far, the biggest growth markets for Norwegian salmon were China and the United States, despite the wildly fluctuating tariffs the US has been threatening in recent months.
China increased its imports by 119 percent, rising from 22,000 to 48,000 tonnes. China’s key import product is fresh HOG, of which 40,000 tonnes were imported in H1, a 130 percent increase compared to last year's first half. With this dramatic increase in volumes came a sizable decrease in average price for fresh HOG, which fell from 125 NOK to 91 NOK.
In the US, growth was mainly achieved by fillets – both fresh and frozen. Fresh salmon fillets, which are the core Norwegian salmon products exported to the US, are of fundamental importance to the seafood landscape in the States. The country is the largest importer globally of Norwegian fresh fillet, and in this H1 they ramped up imports to 20,500 tonnes, up from 16,200 tonnes last year, equating to a 27 percent increase. The US is now also the largest importer of Norwegian frozen salmon fillets, in which category they also scored impressive growth, of around 39 percent.
All this happened despite the economic uncertainty caused by the ever-changing plans for tariffs – an indication of the position and recognition of Norwegian salmon in the world’s largest and most valuable seafood fillet import market.
Alongside these growth champions, some of the more established importers showed appetites for sizable salmon increases too. Poland, the largest salmon processor and largest importer of Norwegian whole salmon, ramped up its total H1 import quantities by 17 percent to reach 89,000 tonnes, while France, one of the key European salmon fillet markets, grew by 12 percent year-on-year across the key product forms.
The Netherlands also ended H1 with double digit import volume growth for fresh HOG, but decreased its fillet inflow. Some important Far East markets, such as Japan and South Korea, showed comparatively weak growth rates, but experienced growth nonetheless.
Looking at some of the more niche markets, it’s fair to say that the majority increased their salmon imports from Norway, as highlighted on the charts below.
Set for a record?
While it has been a particularly strong year for salmon trade in terms of volumes, let’s not forget that much of 2025 is still ahead. Historically, the second half of the year is usually even stronger in export volumes. However, with so much global economic turbulence, inflation and complex trade routes being affected by global geopolitics, let's not call a new record year just yet.
* Unless specified otherwise total country and regional volumes in this article are expressed in WFE, if a product form is specified volumes are in product weight.
** All charts and maps were created using Flourish.
