Atlantic salmon on the counter feels dearer than it did a decade ago, and the aquaculture industry’s own numbers help explain why. Feed is a large slice of cost and tracked global ingredient inflation for years. Biological risk — especially sea lice — forces expensive prevention, treatments and sometimes early harvests; Norwegian fish-health reporting has described sharp lice pressure in warm seasons. Licences and environmental limits constrain how fast sea farms can expand, while demand in big import markets stayed firm. Industry analyses around 2024–2025 still talked about elevated cost per kilogram even when revenues looked strong.
Trout often sits cheaper on the same shelf. Different biology, shorter cycles and a less globalised brand premium all play a part; it is not proof that salmon is “fake” or that someone is hiding a conspiracy in the price tag.
Watch the sidebar. Curiosity pieces about food prices are favourite landing pads for ads about commodity bots, “fish token” farms and guaranteed yield desks. A real salmon contract trades on regulated venues with margin and loss; a stranger’s chart in Telegram does not. Read the economics, skip the deposit link.
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