Mowi: Americans cooked more salmon at home in Q2

All-time high” volumes sold in the retail market helped Mowi offset some losses in its bottom line in the second quarter of 2020.

In the United States, the world’s largest salmon producer saw a three-percent growth in consumption during Q2 – the period when the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic was first seen.

“The strong demand in retail has offset some of the shortfall (caused by the lockdowns)…. Retailers have also sold increasing volumes through e-commerce, home delivery and in-store pickup. Many new customers who had not previously shopped online are now doing so regularly, having discovered how easy it is,” said Mowi. It noted that sales of pre-packed salmon products were particularly positive.

The Group launched the Mowi Pure brand in the e-commerce segment in the US through Amazon Fresh early this year, just before the pandemic struck. It plans to “reinvigorate” the brand when the COVID-19 situation in the US improves.

“This is an impressive result and demonstrates yet again the importance of Mowi’s downstream strategy,” it said.

But overall, Mowi’s Q2 profitabillity was down by €112.6M ($133.6M) or 53 percent, in Q2 over the same quarter in 2019 because of lower salmon prices. Lockdowns and disruptions in trade flows and logistics due to the pandemic dramatically impacted foodservice demand, leading to inventory buildup (of mainly frozen Chilean salmon), thus dragging down prices, it said.