Important wild fish species are cod (the basis of dried bacalao) and other whitefish species, herring, mackerel, capelin, as well as a wide variety of prawns and crabs. Norway is leading in the development of modern aquaculture, which today generates almost 70 per cent of Norwegian seafood exports. Salmon is the most widely exported farmed fish, followed by rainbow trout.
Ukraine is an important export market for Norwegian fish. In 2014, Ukraine imported almost 63 000 tons of fish and seafood from Norway. Alongside traditionally high levels of consumption of Norwegian herring and mackerel in Ukraine, there has been a steady growth in the Ukrainian consumer’s demand for salmon and trout in recent years. However, due to the current situation, this growth has halted in 2015. According to statistics from the Norwegian Seafood Council, the export of salmon to Ukraine over January-May 2015 reached a volume of 2 700 tons, against 5 200 tons in 2014 and 9 000 tons in 2013.
In view of the current situation in the seafood market in Ukraine, the Norwegian Embassy in Kiev is working to promote exports of Norwegian seafood and support further long-term relations between Norwegian exporters and the Ukrainian seafood importing businesses.
As a large global exporter, the Norwegian government considers it very important that all seafood products offered to the consumer are safe. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority is responsible for establishing regulations, operating monitoring programmes and conducting inspections in order to ensure this goal. All producers or wholesalers of food are required to comply in full with these regulations. On behalf of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research in Norway each year carries out analyses to assess the presence of nutrients and possible undesirable substances, pathogenic agents or certain bacteria. For more information, please visit http://www.nifes.no.