Marine Harvest ASA has entered into agreements with the largest European institute for applied research within fisheries, aquaculture and food, Nofima, and the leading Norwegian agricultural feed producer, Felleskjøpet Rogaland Agder, which creates the potential to establish a leading Norwegian salmon feed company with an annual production capacity of up to 500,000 tonnes of salmon feed.
Marine Harvest has signed a letter of intent with Felleskjøpet Rogaland Agder (FKRA) that will secure new company access to formulation technology as well as competence within purchasing and quality control of raw material and finished feed. Marine Harvest has further signed a letter of intent with Nofima for availability of globally leading researchers within fish nutrition and raw material composition. Although locations of production are not yet decided, Marine Harvest has signed an agreement with Valsneset Energi og Industriselskap AS based in the municipality Bjugn in Mid Norway for the utilization of land property.
Marine Harvest has carried out a pre-study of the business case for establishing a feed company. Based on this pre-study the project will now enter into a new phase with detailed assessments. A decision on whether or not to proceed with the establishment of the fish feed company will be taken once the conclusions from this study are available.
"Feed costs constitute approximately 50% of production costs in salmon farming. Feed quality is an important driver for production cost, fish health and food quality. With highly experienced partners with proven track record within feed production and fish nutrition, we have established a solid basis for a detailed assessment of the potential gains from establishing a salmon feed company. We believe the establishment of a new salmon feed company in collaboration with experienced partners and integrated with the world's largest producer of salmon could open up for a profitable expansion of our value chain and contribute to the improvement of Marine Harvest's profitability over time", commented CEO of Marine Harvest, Mr Alf-Helge Aarskog.
Marine Harvest is the world's leading seafood company and largest producer of farmed salmon, with presence in 22 countries and a total of 6,200 employees worldwide. The company is headquartered in Bergen, Norway, and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Please see www.marineharvest.com for further information.
