Hoki is cheap because it exists in enormous quantities, reproduces quickly, and is harvested with industrial-scale trawling that keeps costs low per kilogram. It’s a mild, white-fleshed fish that slots perfectly into the frozen and fast food supply chain, where price matters more than prestige. While cod fillets currently sell for around $13–15 per kilogram wholesale, hoki comes in at a fraction of that, making it one of the most affordable whitefish options on the global market.
Massive Stock Levels Keep Supply High
New Zealand’s hoki fishery is the country’s largest, and the sheer volume of fish available is the single biggest reason the price stays low. The combined catch limit for hoki sits at around 110,000 tonnes per year, split between two distinct stocks: an eastern stock and a western stock. The eastern stock is in strong shape, estimated at 55% of its unfished biomass in 2025, while the western stock sits at 39%, both within or above their management target ranges.
When a fishery can sustainably pull over 100,000 tonnes annually, the per-kilogram cost drops dramatically. Compare that to cod or haddock, where tighter quotas and declining stocks push wholesale prices up year after year. Norwegian cod fillets hit $13–15 per kilogram in early 2025, up significantly from the year before. Hoki faces no such supply squeeze. Five-year projections suggest both hoki stocks will remain stable at current catch levels, meaning there’s no supply crunch on the horizon to push prices higher.
Biology That Favors Abundance
Hoki mature fast. Most reach reproductive age by around four years, with some populations recruiting as early as three. That quick turnaround means the population can replenish itself relatively rapidly after fishing pressure, unlike slow-growing deep-sea species. Orange roughy, for example, can take 25 to 30 years to mature, which makes its population far more fragile and its supply far more limited. Hoki’s biology essentially makes it a renewable resource on a short cycle, which supports the high catch volumes that keep prices down.
Since the fishery was first certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in 2001, both hoki stocks have more than doubled. Catch limits were reduced when needed, a formal rebuilding plan was introduced, and the western stock fully recovered. That management success means the fishery continues to produce large volumes without collapsing, a combination that keeps hoki flowing into global markets year after year.
Industrial Trawling Cuts Harvest Costs
Hoki is caught using large-scale midwater and bottom trawls operated by industrial vessels. These boats rely on technology and scale rather than labor-intensive techniques. Larger trawlers consistently show higher productivity and profitability than small-scale fishing operations because they can sweep large volumes of fish in a single pass, spreading fuel and crew costs across a much bigger catch. The scale efficiency of these vessels correlates directly with their size: bigger boats with better gear catch more fish per dollar spent.
This is fundamentally different from how premium fish reach your plate. Line-caught cod, hand-harvested scallops, or small-boat operations all cost more per kilogram simply because they’re slower and more labor-intensive. Hoki’s deep-water schooling behavior makes it well suited to trawl nets, so the harvesting method and the fish’s natural habits align to minimize cost.
A Fish Built for Frozen Products
Hoki has tender, white flesh with minimal bones. Those qualities sound appealing, but in culinary terms, they make hoki a “commodity whitefish” rather than a destination ingredient. The mild flavor and soft texture mean it doesn’t stand out on a restaurant menu the way cod, halibut, or snapper would. What it does exceptionally well is disappear inside batter and breadcrumbs.
That’s exactly where most hoki ends up. McDonald’s used New Zealand hoki in its Filet-O-Fish sandwich for years, and chains like Long John Silver’s have done the same. In Australia, the Filet-O-Fish still uses a pollock and hoki blend, while New Zealand locations rely primarily on hoki. When your biggest buyers are fast food chains negotiating massive supply contracts, the price per kilogram gets pushed as low as possible. These buyers don’t want premium fish; they want consistent, mild, white fillets at scale. Hoki delivers exactly that.
New Zealand exported over 31 million kilograms of frozen fish fillets in 2019, worth roughly $179 million. The top destinations were Australia (8 million kg), Poland (7.6 million kg), and the United States (2.1 million kg). Poland’s presence on that list is telling: it’s a major hub for processing frozen fish into breaded and battered products that get resold across Europe. Hoki enters the country as a raw commodity and leaves as fish fingers and frozen fillets under various brand names.
Low Brand Recognition, Low Price
Most people who eat hoki don’t know they’re eating hoki. It shows up on packaging as “white fish” or “ocean fish” or simply as the unlabeled protein inside a crumbed fillet. That anonymity works against the fish’s market value. Consumers will pay a premium for salmon, tuna, or cod because they recognize and seek out those names. Hoki has no such brand power.
This creates a self-reinforcing cycle. Because hoki is cheap, it gets used in budget products. Because it’s used in budget products, consumers associate it (if they think about it at all) with low cost. No fishery or retailer has a strong incentive to market hoki as a premium option when the entire supply chain is optimized for volume and value.
How Hoki Compares to Other Whitefish
The whitefish market has a clear price hierarchy, and hoki sits near the bottom alongside pollock and pangasius. Here’s why the alternatives cost more:
- Cod: Frozen fillets from Norway reached $13 per kilogram in March 2025, up from $8 the year before. Cod stocks face tighter quotas, and the fish carries strong brand recognition in Europe and North America.
- Haddock: Prices track upward alongside cod, driven by similar supply constraints and consumer demand in traditional fish-and-chips markets.
- Hake: Wholesale prices are expected to rise 15–20% due to declining stocks, pushing hake toward premium territory in European markets.
- Pollock: The closest competitor to hoki on price. Alaska pollock is the world’s largest whitefish fishery and serves a nearly identical role in frozen and fast food products.
As hake and cod prices climb, some restaurants and retailers are shifting to cheaper alternatives like pollock and pangasius. Hoki occupies the same budget tier, which means rising prices elsewhere can actually increase demand for hoki without raising its price much, since supply remains abundant.
Cheap Does Not Mean Low Quality
Hoki’s low price reflects economics, not nutrition or safety. The fish comes from a well-managed fishery with a track record of sustainable harvesting. It was the first large-scale whitefish fishery to earn MSC certification back in 2001, and the certification was renewed twice before the fishery transitioned to a broader multi-species assessment covering hoki alongside hake, ling, and southern blue whiting.
Nutritionally, hoki is a lean source of protein with the same general benefits as other white fish. The reason it costs less than cod isn’t that it’s an inferior product. It’s that there’s more of it, it’s easier to catch, it grows back faster, and nobody is willing to pay extra for the name on the label.