A database provides market predictions for sheries

Kontali, a Norwegian database, is the world’s most extensive database pertaining to aquaculture and sheries. Subscribers have access to all sorts of information like production and market models, distribution volumes, and prices all for di erent sh species and countries. e predictions are quite detailed, outlining every generation of sh with long forecasts. Kontali’s information can only be accessed through a subscription which can be done on their website (www.kontali.com). Subscribers can choose a species of sh and lter by country or region to learn more about it’s production. eir models predict production, harvest, and market trends, and they are quite accurate; according to Ragnar Rønning, the company’s commerical and sales director, last year’s production model for Norway was o by just 1%. While data is limited for some of the countries that Kontali produces models for, through conversations with producers, shermen, and representatives from markets all over the world, Kontali is able to produce models that prove quite accurate for sheries and aquaculture. Fifteen analysts compare the markets in Europe, the United States, and Asia to solidify these models. Norway’s new salmon tax is particularly interesting to Kontali, explained sh is transported from the coasts by truck and plane. e best buyers are in Madrid, so even when a sh is caught in the North, in Galicia for example, it is brought to the Madrid market rst, and if it is not sold, it is transported back to Galicia for sale there. Mercamadrid is for buyers only; non-buyers can only attend twice per month, and they must sign up in advance. ere are also school visits and organized visits of the market for companies that are organized by Mercamadrid.

Mr Rønning. It is not entirely clear how it will be implemented and it is di cult to predict its impacts because the tax is unprecedented. Kontali predicts that salmon volumes for the next year will likely remain the same because the sh eggs have already been laid, but in the years that follow it is likely that production will increase by 3-5% to compensate for the tax. Mr Rønning predicts that some salmon producers will have to drop out of the industry, but otherd will pick up the lost production. He even suggested that the market could support another 100,000 tonnes of salmon annually. Large volumes of salmon are not yet being produced on land in Norway— only a few thousand tonnes per month compared to 4 million tonnes that are produced annually in Norway (when considering all salmonids). Even with such high volumes, salmon remains a nice, high-paying, luxury product.

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