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SWEDEN
2nd December 2002
Swedish consumers avoid wild-caught cod due to press reports that cod stocks are threatened. At the same time, Norwegian farmed cod is being introduced to Stockholm supermarkets. The major sales pitch is that this cod is farmed.
The volume of farmed cod available in Stockholm supermarkets is very small at present, only 1,000 kilos of fillets per week, but environmentally aware consumers conceive farmed cod as a sustainable resource.
Swedish cod consumption has dropped by 50 per cent during the past six months . Consumers who ask for cod, lean over the counter and whisper their order, according to Swedish press reports.
"Political discussions and press reports around the cod stock situation have led to consumer scepticism toward wild-caught cod. Press reports on farmed cod have concentrated on positive perspectives," Thomas Ahlström of the seafood wholesaler Lerøy Allt i fisk in Gothenburg told FIS.com.
"The main sales pitch of the farmed cod that we import from Norway is that this cod is farmed," Ahlström informed.
Availability limits farmed cod supply.
"We could sell more and our cod farmer has said that he will double the volume during the first quarter next year," Ahlström said. Farmed cod will not replace wild-caught cod in the long-term, but supplement it.
"We are talking about two separate products here. The advantage of farmed cod is a steady and predictable supply. The price is too high at present, though. The Co-Op supermarket chain and Lerøy are subsidising farmed cod fillets at the moment in order to introduce the product into the market," Ahlström said. He feels that the quality of the fish is very good.
North Sea cod is in severe trouble and Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler has signalled that North Sea cod quotas next year will be reduced by 80 per cent. Farmed cod is at present nowhere near being in a position to take market shares here. Icelandic and Norwegian cod in addition to frozen whitefish from around the globe can easily fill the gap left open by lower EU catches next year.
Scientists have predicted that the farmed cod industry could grow to the size of the farmed salmon sector within 10 years. That means half a million tonnes of farmed cod in Norway in less than a decade. The question is whether farmed cod would still be perceived as environmentally friendly?
By Odin Hjellestad
FIS Europe
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