Seafood News - Industry Events - Seafood Market

Grampion TV    28/04/2005 11:58:01

New anti-dumping duties have come into force today which'll protect the Scottish salmon farming industry from cheap imports. The EU measures will increase the cost of Norwegian salmon by nearly twenty per cent, allowing the Scottish and Irish independent businesses to recover.

There's no doubt Scotland's salmon farming industry has been hit hard in recent years by cut price foreign imports. The estimated cost to the sector, two hundred million pounds over the last four years with production dropping from one hundred and sixty thousand tonnes in 2003 to one hundred thousand this year.

Independent Scottish salmon producers have simply been unable to compete with cheap imports. Norway is not a member of the EU but has sixty per cent of the salmon market. Norwegian producers have always strenuously denied accusations of unfair competition.

But following a thorough investigation by the European Commission, new anti-dumping duties have been brought in from today which'll increase the price of Norwegian salmon by sixteen to nineteen per cent.

The move's been welcomed by the Scottish salmon farming leaders who claim hundreds of jobs will now be protected by the new measures. They say Norway, which owns roughly three quarters of the salmon industry in Scotland, will now be forced to reinvest in their Scottish based businesses.

The duties are being introduced for an initial six months at the end of which the European Commission will have to come up with a definitive measure.