Before the United Kingdom left the European Union, people in and outside the British Isles worried about what would change after Boris Johnson finally made Brexit happen. Trade was — and, as a matter of fact, still is — a big concern. In that context, there were the foods that had always left the Isles (exports) and come in (imports), and that people had gotten accustomed to seeing move across borders.

But waiting times, new tariffs, and bureaucratic barriers were set to cause severe disruption to trade. Broadly speaking, however, even though it wasn’t easy, it all worked out just about fine.

The end of 2020 was tough. With a so-called “hard Brexit” deadline looming, French borders were closed to the UK and exports to the rest of the EU suffered important delays. Then, Mr Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck a trade deal resulting in zero tariffs on goods traded between the UK and the EU. Despite the requirement of new export health certificates and additional labels, Scottish Salmon producers sighed in relief.

After overcoming a difficult first half of the year to which the coronavirus pandemic only added fuel, with hiccups including extra paperwork, delays (it now takes an average of two hours longer for a seafood load to the EU to be processed than before Brexit) and quite some confusion, movement of goods picked up… And that of Scottish Salmon skyrocketed.

Scotland’s salmon farmers exported a record volume of fresh fish to the European Union in the first half of 2021.

Official statistics published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) confirmed some 33,638 metric tons (MT) of whole, fresh salmon were exported to the EU in the opening six months of this year, with a value of GBP 183.4 million (EUR 215.5 million).

Some of the UK’s media say Britain’s salmon industry is booming.

Since the start of the pandemic, export volumes had unsurprisingly fallen. The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO) described the new numbers, which have reached pre-Covid levels, as confidence-inducing to the sector.

SSPO Chief Executive Tavish Scott said: “We are delighted to see such strong demand for our salmon internationally, which demonstrates the importance of our sector as an economic driver of Scotland’s rural economy.

“The jobs and communities we have been able to support during such a difficult year is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the employees throughout the entire sector.”

Yet, though encouraging, volume isn’t it all. Total export volumes are up by 63 per cent since last year, but value did NOT grow correspondingly, having increased by 42 per cent only. The SSPO ties this to poor market conditions.

Mr Scott blamed undermining margins, saying: “Despite much reason for celebration, we cannot deny that we are disappointed that the value of our award-winning salmon remains suppressed due to intense marketplace competition and fallout from Brexit’s impact on our supply chains.”

Naturally, the price of salmon has a say in the value of exports too: salmon prices have shrunk globally, with the Nasdaq Salmon Index reporting that the 12-week average prices for salmon have sunk 25.3 per cent to an average of NOK 55.68 (EUR 5.37) per kilo.

Outside the EU, countries continued to import Scottish salmon: volumes were 54 per cent higher than in 2020, but still 25 per cent lower than pre-pandemic levels.

Other areas of the UK seafood industry, including the shellfish sector, were more harshly affected by Brexit.

British shellfish producers have historically exported millions of pounds of oysters, mussels, and scallops, among others, to the EU. With Brexit, the EU stopped the import of certain types of molluscs — those that aren’t ready for consumption but need to be treated in purification plants first — from the UK.

Seeing what could have happened, it is no wonder the Scottish salmon network counted itself lucky.

Worldwide, 54 countries import salmon from Scotland. In 2019, France, the US and China were the top three markets out of a total of 54 countries that the UK exported Scottish salmon to; the EU accounted for 56 per cent of the volume of global exports and 52 per cent of the value, the US was the largest market outside the EU, and Taiwan and Japan showed big growth within Asia.

As to where Spain stands today, there is still no clear data. While figures for total trade in goods and services (exports plus imports) between the UK and Spain from mid-2020 to mid-2021 were released by the Department for International Trade, the volumes of Scottish salmon exported to Spain haven’t been revealed so far. The five big winning export categories are cars; medicinal and pharmaceutical products; mechanical power generators; ships, and crude oil.

Total UK exports to Spain ran to £13.1 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q1 2021 – a decrease of 26.9 per cent compared to the four quarters from mid-2019 to mid-2020.