One Salmon Costs More Than Barrel of Oil as Slump Deepens: Chart
Comment of the Day

January 26 2016

Commentary by David Fuller

One Salmon Costs More Than Barrel of Oil as Slump Deepens: Chart

Here is this the text for this short item from Bloomberg which includes a must-see chart:

Odd things happen during selloffs.

Western Europe’s biggest oil producer is suffering from the collapse in crude prices. But another top commodity export in Norway, salmon, is fetching record-high prices because of low supplies and a weak currency. As the seafood-industry news site iLaks.no reported this month, oil has fallen so low and salmon risen so high that one standard, 4.5 kilogram fish now costs more than a barrel of crude, measured in kroner.

 

David Fuller's view

I love salmon but this is ridiculous.  Yes, I know about overproduction of crude oil, the wish to ban it as fuel for moving vehicles because of pollution, and the increasing use of renewables.  However, crude oil is still the world’s most important commodity in terms of consumption.  Moreover, it will still be used in the preparation of chemicals long after it has been replaced as a fuel, if that ever happens. 

I think that crude oil is bottoming and will rebound sharply in anticipation of a new OPEC-led producer programme to reduce production is agreed this year. 

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