Norwegian salmon-farming firms Lerøy, Grieg, and SalMar, as well as Faroese firm Bakkafrost, have released trading updates for the fourth quarter of 2024 that provide abridged financial results before each firm releases its full financial results later in the winter.
According to its latest trading update, Bergen, Norway-headquartered Lerøy Seafood Group (LSG) harvested approximately 56,800 gutted weight tons (GWT) of Atlantic salmon and trout in the quarter, excluding volumes from its 50 percent stake in Scottish Seafarms. This volume was about 9,300 GWT more than in the corresponding period of 2023.
Its Lerøy Aurora operations harvested 15,400 GWT, Lerøy Midt harvested 22,600 GWT, and Lerøy Sjøtroll harvested 18,800 GWT, of which 8,200 GWT was trout. For the corresponding period of 2023, these regions’ volumes stood at 12,500 GWT, 20,300 GWT, and 14,700 GWT, of which 6,500 GWT was trout, respectively.
LSG’s total wild catch volume in Q4 2024 was 9,800 metric tons (MT), representing a decrease of 2,700 MT year over year.
Considering these preliminary results, for the full year 2024, the group harvested around 171,200 GWT of salmon and trout, compared with the previous year’s 159,600 GWT. Its wild catch volume totaled 65,000 MT, compared to 75,900 MT in 2023.
Lerøy’s complete Q4 2024 report will be released 28 February 2025.
To start 2025, LSG confirmed there was a salmon escape event at its farming site in Møre og Romsdal, which is part of the firm’s Lerøy Midt operations. The extent of the escape, caused by storm damage, is not clear. Recapture nets have been deployed at the site, according to the company, where the average size of the fish was just over 1 kilogram.
Also based in Bergen, Grieg Seafood harvested approximately 23,400 GWT of salmon in Q4 2024, representing an increase of 1,600 GWT on the corresponding quarter of 2023.
Grieg’s Q4 2024 trading update advised that its Rogaland and Finnmark regions of Norway harvested 8,000 GWT and 10,100 GWT of salmon, respectively, in the period, compared to 2,200 GWT and 10,400 GWT a year previously.
At the same time, the group’s Canadian farms in Newfoundland (NL) harvested 5,300 GWT, compared with 3,200 GWT in Q4 2023.
No fish were harvested by its British Columbia (BC) farms in the quarter, compared to 6,000 GWT previously, as the last harvests of 2024 in the region were completed in Q3.
The company’s BC operations are also still facing the looming threat of the Canadian government’s intention to remove net pen farming from the region by 30 June 2029.
“A decision on the transition plan for the salmon farming industry in the region is yet to be made. As Grieg Seafood awaits the transition plan to be concluded, investments are put on hold,” Kvame said in the firm’s Q3 financial results.
Its complete Q4 2024 report will be released on 20 February 2025.
Frøya, Norway-headquartered salmon producer SalMar ASA harvested 73,800 GWT of salmon in the final quarter of 2024, marking a reduction of 9,400 GWT compared with the harvest reported a year ago. The latest volume comprised 39,700 GWT from its Farming Central Norway segment, 27,700 GWT from Farming Northern Norway, and 6,500 MT from its Icelandic Salmon operations.
No harvest volume was recorded for SalMar Aker Ocean in Q4 2024.
In the corresponding period of 2023, Farming Central Norway recorded 42,300 GWT, Farming Northern Norway harvested 31,400 GWT, SalMar Aker Ocean brought in 2,300 GWT, and Icelandic Salmon harvested 7,200 GWT.
Faroese salmon-farming firm Bakkafrost Group confirmed a harvest of 16,600 metric tons (MT) head-on gutted (HOG) salmon within its Faroe Islands operations in Q4 2024, while its Scottish operations harvested 3,800 MT. In the corresponding quarter of 2023, the group reported totals of 16,000 MT and 1,100 MT, respectively.
Bakkafrost’s total 2024 harvest is estimated at 90,700 MT, comprising 62,800 MT from the Faroes and 27,900 MT from Scotland. In the previous year, its harvest was 73,000 MT, with the Faroes contributing 52,400 MT, and Scotland at 29,700 MT.
Bakkafrost’s full Q4 2024 report will be released on 18 February 2025.
