Salmon market has room enough for all

Date: 10/10/1996

By Michael Mann

THE European Commission will be cutting off its nose to spite its face if it judges next year that Norway has been dumping salmon on the EU market.

Anti-dumping complaints from the industry in Scotland and similar concerns expressed by Ireland are perhaps the most tangible sign of resentment felt towards the Norwegians since they voted not to become the EU's 16th member state, according to Jostein Refsnes, president of Norway's National Federation of Fish and Aquaculture Industries.

Refsnes is incredulous that Scottish salmon growers elected to go ahead with both anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases against his members earlier this year.

“If the Commission's conclusion is that we have been dumping, all Norwegian industries will be tarred with the same brush. The salmon sector is a mirror of the entire Norwegian system,” claims Refsnes.

He warns that the investigation could not only threaten the whole basis of EU-Norway trade relations, but also have a more direct effect on a significant number of Union citizens.

“It is not in the EU's interest to raise the price of imports. There are 12,000 jobs directly linked to competitive salmon imports,” says Refsnes, pointing to the huge quantities of salmon imported for smoking and processing within the Union's borders, particularly in France, Germany and Denmark.

In a country as reliant on the fisheries sector as Norway, the political importance of the anti-dumping inquiry currently under way cannot be overstated.

“When I met the prime minister recently, she expressed great concern. The government has become very nervous about the whole situation, because it is a very big sector,” stresses Refsnes, adding that “if fish farming stops, the small towns go to pieces”, affecting thousands of families in some of Norway's most remote regions. Norway exports 850-million-ecu worth of salmon every year.

Refsnes is in no doubt there is a degree of envy in the latest attack on his sector, and completely rejects the data on which the challenge is based. He stresses that the assistance received by Norwegian industry does not amount to illegal subsidies, pointing out that it has been notified to - and accepted by - both the World Trade Organisation and the European Economic Area.

“There is no way any Norwegian company can survive by selling below cost price. They would simply go bankrupt,” he adds. “We are not the masters who set prices on the EU market.”

Although Norway has 60&percent; share of Europe's salmon market, prices are predominantly determined by a global market of which it has just a 17&percent; slice.

Norway's salmon growers still find it hard to believe that their Scottish counterparts decided to go ahead with the anti-dumping action, when, they argue, there is plenty of room on the market for all Europe's producer countries - Norway, Scotland, Ireland, the Faroes and the Shetland Islands.

According to Refsnes, salmon production is at the start of a very steep growth curve.

“The consumption of salmon is growing globally by 15-20&percent; every year. When you find yourselves at the bottom of a steep hill going upwards, you do not start fighting. You work together to develop a total market.”

Norwegian anger is heightened by what they see as the Scots' total refusal to take account of the voluntary cut-backs Norway has made to help avert a crisis.

Refsnes claims that since the spring of 1995, his country has voluntarily cut production by 145,000 tonnes, the equivalent of two years' Scottish output.

But despite numerous meetings with his Scottish and Irish counterparts to convince them of Norway's willingness to cooperate, such voluntary restrictions were not enough to fend off the dumping action.

A third complaint initiated by the Scots has now been picked up by Ireland's government, and will be discussed next week by EU fisheries ministers.

“The EU imports 4 million tonnes of fish every year. We are the major supplier of that and we must find a way of cooperating outside EU anti-dumping regulations,” insists Refsnes.

He has a stark warning for EU producers if the anti-dumping investigation, expected to end in May or June next year, results in a ruling in the Scots' favour.

“If the EU is going to impose tariffs next year, our immediate response will be to take away all regulations on our industry because we need to be competitive. This is just pure logic. Either we have a deal or we will end up with a complete free-for-all.”