Norwegian Atlantic Mackerel Prices Surge, Japanese Aquatic Products Industry Faces Operational Pressures
- Easy Seafood
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Recently, the price of Norwegian Atlantic mackerel has hit a record high. Affected by multiple factors such as adjusted fishing quotas, Japanese mackerel importers have fallen into significant operational difficulties, and the entire industrial chain of the sector is under considerable pressure.
The fishing quota for Norwegian Atlantic mackerel was drastically cut in 2025, and coupled with market expectations of a further reduction in the 2026 quota, the procurement price of mackerel has entered a phase of rapid increase since the autumn of 2025. In October 2025, the CIF price of Norwegian Atlantic mackerel once surged to $5.50–5.60 per kilogram; in December of the same year, the average export price of Norwegian mackerel to Japan skyrocketed by 67% year-on-year, while the average export prices to China and Vietnam soared by 95% and 82% respectively, with the price increases far exceeding market expectations.
The sharp price surge has directly driven up the operating costs of Japanese importers, who are also faced with the dilemma of cost-price inversion. Taking Norwegian mackerel of 400–600 grams in size as an example, the terminal selling price for Japanese importers is about 900 Japanese yen per kilogram, while the actual cost is as high as 980–990 Japanese yen per kilogram, resulting in obvious losses per kilogram of business. At the same time, the continuous fluctuations in the Japanese yen exchange rate have further exacerbated the cost pressure on the forward contracts signed by importers earlier, and the scale of losses from some transactions has continued to expand.
To ease operational pressure, Japanese importers have begun to seek alternative fish species, with Pacific mackerel, horse mackerel and relevant fish species from Oceania becoming the main choices, yet the effect of such alternative solutions has been limited.
At present, the price of Japan's domestically produced Pacific mackerel has risen by 60% year-on-year, and a widespread phenomenon of "miniaturization" has emerged, accompanied by lower fat content and reduced processing utilization rate, making it difficult to effectively replace the market demand for Norwegian Atlantic mackerel.
Industry analysts believe that affected by the core factor of the continuous tightening of fishing quotas, the high-cost state of the mackerel market is difficult to alleviate in the short term, and the entire industrial chain of Japanese mackerel import, processing and sales may usher in a new round of industry restructuring.