Fish Radiation Fears May Help Norwegian Exports

Fishing companies from  Norway to Indonesia may benefit from an increase in demand from Japan, where radiation released by a crippled nuclear plant has been detected in the ocean and the nation’s food and water supply.
 
Hong Kong’s Pacific Andes International Holdings Ltd. and Norway’s Marine Harvest ASA, Cermaq ASA and Salmar ASA may see higher demand for their fish to make up for a drop in Japan’s seafood production. Five kinds of radioactive material released by damaged fuel rods from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi facility were detected in the nearby sea, including iodine-131, cesium-134 and cobalt, according to plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. 
 
“The fishing industry in Japan is actually badly destroyed or harmed by the earthquake and nuclear plant crisis,” said Katie Tsui, head of investor relations at Pacific Andes International Holdings Ltd. “It’s possible, in the longer term, demand for fish from Japan will increase.” 
 
Japan accounts for 4 percent of Norway’s salmon exports, he said. Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Salmar could benefit “as salmon is a high-value fish which can defend high transportation costs,” he wrote.
 
Japan exported 195 billion yen ($2.4 billion) of seafood last year, accounting for 0.3 percent of total exports, according to data on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
 
Total food exports from Japan amounted to 481 billion yen last year, accounting for 0.7 percent of total exports, according to data on the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries website.
 
In 2009, more than 70 percent of Japan’s food exports went to Hong Kong, the U.S., China, Taiwan and South Korea, according to the Japan External Trade Organization


 

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