Global farmed salmon prices should remain firm in 2022 despite an expected return to higher production in Chile, according to agricultural lending giant Rabobank.

Surging consumer demand for the fish since the onset of the pandemic continues to absorb global salmon production, fueling the stronger prices seen over the past year.

"It's been a phenomenal year. It has been far far above expectations," Rabobank Senior Analyst Gorjan Nikolik told IntraFish.

The industry pinned its hopes during 2020 on the belief that the foodservice sector, which was largely shut down during much of last year to help thwart the spread of the coronavirus, would bounce back and that higher demand at retail would be maintained, and that is pretty much exactly what happened.