Norwegian Seafood Council

Corridor footprint

The Norwegian Seafood Council (Sjømatrådet) is owned by Norway’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries and financed by Norwegian seafood exporters through a levy on every kilo exported. It maintains representative offices in Norway’s most important markets — and its Lisbon office covers what is arguably the most loyal of them all: Portugal, the world’s largest market for Norwegian clipfish, where cod consumption runs at roughly 17.5 kg per person per year and consists almost entirely of bacalhau. In 2025 Portugal was Norway’s fastest-growing seafood market, taking around 51,000 tonnes worth NOK 6.1 billion.

Gudfinna Traustadottir took over as country director for Portugal on 1 August 2025 after eight years leading the Council’s Brazil office. Her mandate has become more demanding in 2026: Barents Sea quota cuts pushed Norwegian clipfish export volumes down 32 per cent in the first half of 2026 to 24,019 tonnes — the lowest first half since 1992 — at record-high prices, putting premium positioning and category defence in Portugal at the centre of the Council’s work.

Why this matters for the corridor

The Council’s Lisbon office is the institutional backbone of one of Europe’s oldest bilateral trades. As cod volumes tighten structurally, how Norway defends bacalhau’s premium position in Portugal — and how Portuguese processors respond — will shape the corridor’s single largest food flow for years.

Recent activity

July 2026: the Council’s H1 2026 statistics showed total Norwegian seafood exports of NOK 84.5 billion (down 1%), with clipfish volumes at a 34-year first-half low — covered by NorthSouth HQ on 7 July 2026.