83% of Norwegian salmon is sent out of the country untreated. ‘Seafood Norway’ believes that further processing of salmon at home could create 10,000 new jobs.
According to figures from the Norwegian Seafood Council, and the Norwegian export industry, Norwegian raw materials create about 21,000 jobs in the EU. Nearly half of these come from seafood, wrote Klassekampen newspaper.
The Norwegian Seafood Industry Association is pleased with the development of domestic processing, which includes salmon burgers and sushi producers, but CEO, Geir Ove Ystmark, wants more.
‘Had the processing of Norwegian salmon now being done in the EU been done at home, we would have had at least 10,000 new jobs across the country,’ he said, adding that these would be engineering jobs.
The import tariff is 2% on untreated fish, and 20% on smoked fish. Seafood Norway and Norway’s Fisheries Act believe that the government must be more active towards the EU in reducing export barriers.
‘The government must go to Brussels and ask what price the EU is putting on a free trade agreement,’ said Geir Ove Ystmark.
He also believes that the export of processed seafood should be increased to the countries with which we have a free trade agreement, including Turkey, Canada, and South Korea.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
