It’s a pretty good time to be a salmon farmer in Norway.
Export prices surged to a 30-year high, global demand has been growing, and profit margins have ballooned. As recently as 2014, the world’s largest salmon-producing country was mired in a slump, forced to sell the fish at discounts when trade sanctions led to a halt in shipments to Russia, a major buyer.
The rebound began late last year with an outbreak of parasitic sea lice, which may cut output in the first half of 2016 by 5 percent, the Norwegian Seafood Council said. The country’s seafood exports were the highest ever in 2015, and prospects for improved demand sparked billions of investment in the past two years by companies including Cargill Inc. and Mitsubishi Corp. Norway accounts for about half of the world’s salmon, a fish that has become popular in restaurants and can be eaten raw in sushi or smoked as hors d’oeuvres.
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