Trade Disruptions and Access to Seafood: Revisiting the Chilean Salmon Disease Crisis

The robustness of seafood supply chains during crisis is an increasingly important topic. This paper provides a case study of a large trade disruption to US imports of fresh salmon fillets due to the Chilean salmon disease crisis. Using Norwegian firm-level export data, we document the Norwegian exporters’ response to the crisis, as well as the US response involving Norwegian salmon. Two main lessons emerge. First, resilience in seafood sourcing is strengthened by having preexisting trade relations with diverse suppliers. Entry of new Norwegian suppliers played only a small role compared with incumbent exporters for the supply response to the crisis. Second, for exporters a crisis can be an opportunity to acquire new customers with persistent effects beyond the crisis period. The switch from Chilean to Norwegian supply occurred primarily through new US firms buying Norwegian salmon, with these trade relationships persisting beyond the crisis period.