Most Norwegians making money in Canada
The three Norway-based companies are dominating the farmed salmon picture in British Columbia, but none of them are present on the east coast of the country. Generally high prices helped to boost the bottom lines of all salmon farmers in North America during the first three months of the year, but an increasing output from Chile started to have a downward effect on prices towards the end of the period. Some highlights of the recently released numbers show relatively low harvest volumes, but strong profits for at least two of the Norwegian companies with farms on Canada’s west coast;
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| Harvest, Q1 ‘13 | Harvest, Q1 ‘14 | Harvest, ‘13 | Harvest, ’14 (est.) | EBIT/Kg Q1 ‘13 | EBIT Q1 ‘14 |
| Marine Harvest | 12,232 | 6,368 | 33,059 | 29,000 | 6.63 | 19.10 |
| Cermaq | 3,800 | 2,000 | 15,000 | 20,000 | 3.20 | 14.80 |
| Grieg | 1,939 | 1,053 | 6,739 | 7,000 | 2.60 | -5.40 |
Harvest weights in tons, gutted weight. EBIT in NOK/Kg- 1Nok~ € 0.123, US$ 0.168
Marine Harvest was still suffering from a reduced smolt output, while at the same time realizing the highest value per kilo produced ever achieved for salmon of Canadian origin, “as our Canadian salmon continues to deliver strong results through a combination of exceptionally high prices, reduced claims and the spot position of sales”, said the company in its Q1 2014 report, which also showed a disappointing 76% share of Superior quality harvested fish. In comparison, Marine Harvest operations in Norway, Scotland, Ireland and the Faroe Islands all had Superior grade harvested salmon in excess of 90%.
Cermaq also attributed its good EBIT/Kg harvested primarily to higher prices- especially in the US, where average sale price was up by 40 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2013- to CAD$ 9.19 (~€ 6.18) per kilo. This price was helped by the recent depreciation of the Canadian dollar against the US currency. Cermaq reports lower harvest weights due to periods of low oxygen and the harvest of fish from a younger generation.
Grieg Seafood BC Ltd. had an episode with disease (furunculosis) in its hatchery in 2012, which led to the reduced stocking of farms over the past two years. The culling of young salmon resulted in a charge of NOK 8.60 per kilo harvested during the first quarter of 2014. The company expects to be back to its “normal” volume of some 15,000 tonnes per year following its smolt output as of the end of this month.
