Salmon's chicken dinner is a winner for Grieg Seafood
Use of poultry ingredients has reduced feed price rises by half for fish farmer
Salmon farmer Grieg Seafood expects that the addition of poultry-based ingredients will reduce the impact of increased feed prices by 50% this year, it said in an extended trading update for the third quarter of 2026.
The cancellation of anchoveta fishing seasons in Peru because of the El Niño climate event has pushed the price of aquafeed marine ingredients up, and substituting some of those with poultry meal helps mitigate that extra cost.
The change of feed formulation is one of several measures Grieg is taking to improve operational performance, reduce costs, and strengthen predictability, the Norwegian company said in the update today.
It has also revised treatment procedures, resulting in reduced mortality in subsequent treatment cycles; is optimising smolt sizes to better align production with operational requirements; and has also introduced revised risk management thresholds during periods of elevated biological risk.
A company in recovery
Grieg Seafood, which has over several years sold its operations in Shetland to Scottish Sea Farms, and those in Canada and in Finnmark, Norway, to Cermaq, now operates on a smaller scale in Rogaland, Norway.
It said seawater production showed promising development during the first half of Q3 2026, recovering from a challenging first half of the year and reaching strong production performance in August.
But mortality increased throughout September at one site following an unexpected algae event that adversely affected fish gill health. Farming cost was consequently impacted by the write-down of lost fish, which had a high average weight.
Despite that, Grieg’s 12-month rolling survival rate at sea ended at 91%, slightly up from 90% in H1 2026, and its superior share of harvested fish improved from 63% in H1 2026 to a more normal 92% in Q3.
£7.2m operating loss
Nonetheless, the NOK 66 million cost impact of the algal bloom and other factors led to Grieg making an operating loss of NOK 91 million (£7.2m) in Q3.
“Overall, Grieg Seafood’s financial performance in 2026 remains below historical levels and the potential of our new, focused strategy. Recent biological incidents and the current cost base reinforce the importance of operational improvements, cost discipline and more predictable biological performance,” wrote the company.
“Importantly, no fundamental changes have been made to our Rogaland operations that would indicate a deterioration in their underlying performance potential compared with the levels achieved over the past five years.”
30,000 gwt next year
The company harvested 10,498 gutted weight tonnes in Q3 and ended the quarter with 15,823 tonnes of fish in the water. Harvest volume is estimated to remain at 29,000 gwt for 2026, with 4,600 gwt harvested in the current quarter.
“We expect to harvest 30,000 tonnes in 2027, intentionally reduced from 31,000 tonnes to minimise value at risk during the highest risk season of the year,” wrote Grieg.
Full year farming cost for 2026 is guided at approximately NOK 71 per kilo, falling to NOK 67 next year.
