Norwegian export figures for the first half of the year indicate that there is a booming market for mackerel at the moment. The value of mackerel exports soared by 55% compared with the same period last year.

Norwegian exports of frozen herring were up by as much as 37% during the first half of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010. At the same time, the average export price increased from NOK 10.14 to NOK 11.70 (+15.4%). 
  
The Russian Federation is still the largest market for Norwegian frozen mackerel. During the first half of 2011, Norway shipped 11 313 tonnes of frozen mackerel to Russia - an increase of 23.7%. However, export prices to Russia declined slightly, from NOK 11.37 in 2010 to NOK 10.87 in 2011.

China is apparently hungry for more mackerel (although some of its imports are re-exported to Japan). Imports from Norway rose by 42% during the first half of 2011 compared with the same period last year. On the Chinese market prices went up significantly; the fob export price from Norway to China increased from NOK 9.26 per kg in 2010 to NOK 13.04 in 2011 (+40.8%).

On the German market, the situation is quite the opposite. German imports of frozen mackerel during the first three months of 2011 dropped by 23% by volume, according to German official statistics. But this may be in the process of changing, for imports from Norway increased sharply on the German market during the second quarter of the year. While Norway exported only 38 tonnes during the first half of 2010, during the same period in 2011 Norwegian exports to Germany reached 2 053 tonnes. On the whole, Norwegian mackerel exports to the EU increased by almost 66% by volume. The average price also went up considerably, so that by value the increase in Norwegian exports to the EU reached a huge 106%.

The mackerel controversy between Scotland and Ireland on one side and Iceland and the Faroes on the other continues. At the end of June the Scottish Fisheries Minister called for immediate sanctions against Iceland and the Faroes over mackerel quotas. For the past three years the two countries have set their own mackerel quotas unilaterally, and this action, according to Scotland and Ireland, as well as the EU, is endangering the stocks. According the reports, Iceland and the Faroes will land more than 300 000 tonnes of mackerel in 2011, clearly in excess of what the stocks can sustain in the long run.