SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [BANR JAPAN REPORTS] Tokyo Jan 12, 2010 - Norway's king crab exports to Japan plunged 21% in 2009; but Japan still remained the largest buyer; salmon exports to Japan gain 20% helped by strong yen. Norway's exports of king crab to Japan in 2009 plunged 21% from the previous year to 1,100 tons, with value also shrinking substantially by 40% to NOK87 million, according to the 2009 export statistics made public by the Norwegian Seafood Export Council (NSEC) on January 5, local time. Norway's overall king crab exports declined 10% to 2,500 tons, with value standing at NOK220 million, down 26%. Despite the decrease both in volume and value, Japan remained the top importer of king crab from Norway for the second consecutive year from 2008. Meanwhile, the NSEC said that the country's overall seafood export value in 2009 aggregated NOK44.7 billion, up 15% from 2008, renewing the all-time high levels for the sixth straight year. Salmon continued to be the largest export item in 2009, with export volume standing at 834,000 tons, up 16% from the preceding year, and export value of NOK23.7 billion, up 32%. Atlantic salmon accounted for 53% of Norway's overall seafood export value, the NSEC said. The largest market for the Norwegian salmon was the European Union, which absorbed over 70% of salmon Norway shipped during the year. The largest growth rate was observed in the exports to the United States, showing a quadruple jump over 2008. Salmon exports to Japan advanced 20% to 29,000 tons, worth of NOK960 million, up 29%, or registering the highest margin growth for the past decade. An NSEC spokesman commented that the yen's 26% appreciation against Norwegian krone on the average during the past year contributed greatly to strong sales of high-quality Norwegian salmon in Japan, amid the general declining trend in seafood consumption and deflationary economy in the country. Norway's overall exports of trout came to 73,000 tons, down 17%, worth NOK1.94 billion, up 7%. Exports of trout to Japan totaled 6,200 tons, down 28%, with value standing at NOK170 million, down 12%. Regarding mackerel, exports increased 16% to 189,000 tons, with value dipping 4% to NOK2.04 million. Exports to Japan aggregated 51,000 tons, down 9%, while value staged a substantial fall of 31%. However, Japan remained the largest buyer of Norwegian mackerel, holding 27% share of overall exports. The second largest importer of Norwegian mackerel in 2009 was China, which bought 34,000 tons, up 3%. But this apparently included sizable volume to be processed in China and re-exported to Japan. In 2009, capelin fishing was resumed in Norway after six years' ban for resource conservation. Prior to the moratorium on the fishing, Norwegian capelin had accounted for 70-80% of Japan's overall capelin imports. Industry sources expect that capelin consumption will be activated in Japan following the lifting of the ban. Norway's overall exports of capelin in 2009 aggregated 133,000 tons, with value of NOK570 million, of which 12,000 tons worth NOK96 million was shipped to Japan.