Mowi CEO Ivan Vindheim said Q1 2025 was another strong quarter for the Bergen, Norway-headquartered salmon-farming firm – both operationally and biologically – with record-high growth in the sea for a first quarter and improved biological metrics across the board.
“This has continued in the second quarter, which seems to have been mirrored across the industry, leading to record-high industry supply growth and pressure on prices,” he said while sharing Mowi’s Q1 2025 results on 14 May.
Regarding that industry-wide supply growth, Vindheim confirmed that many salmon farmers enjoyed “very favorable environmental conditions,” resulting in a 13 percent increase in European salmon supply in the quarter, while global supply grew 8 percent.
This, he said, should be considered a one-off situation after three consecutive years of challenging biology.
“There is nothing in the number of individuals in the sea or in the regulations that has changed our view on the limited supply growth in the coming years,” he said.
For the full year of 2025, Mowi is expecting supply to be 6 percent above last year before returning to a growth level of around 2 percent to 3 percent annually due to regulatory constraints.
Nevertheless, Mowi hasn’t seen such Q1 production numbers since the start of 2021, and the increased production helped the firm secure increased revenues year over year.
According to its Q1 report, Mowi recorded group revenues of EUR 1.36 billion (USD 1.5 billion), which was up 2 percent on the corresponding period of 2024 and translated into operational EBIT of EUR 214 million (USD 241 million), 7 percent higher year over year.
This came on the back of a 108,000-metric-ton (MT) harvest of salmon in the period, a 12 percent increase on Q1 2024. After the quarter, Mowi has maintained its harvest volume guidance for 2025 of 530,000 MT.
Taking into consideration the recent agreement to increase its ownership of Nova Sea from 49 percent to 95 percent, Mowi expects to harvest 600,000 MT in 2026. It has a further target of 650,000 MT in 2029.
“This, we will achieve through increased smolt stocking and by means of post-smolt because there is still unutilized license capacity in Mowi in several of the countries where we operate. With the post-smolt, we can increase the productivity on licenses already in operation and those which are to be set into operation,” Vindheim said. “Mowi’s idiosyncratic growth continues unabated after the rather quiet 2010s and is now surpassing that of the wider industry and our listed peers by a large margin – cementing our [top] position in Atlantic salmon.”
By location, Mowi Norway produced 61,703 MT of gutted weight salmon in Q1 2025, compared to 54,711 MT in Q1 2024, while operations in Scotland contributed 17,656 MT, versus 14,205 MT. Its operations in Chile produced 13,936 MT, compared to 12,546 MT; its Canadian farms produced 4,996 MT, compared to 8,796 MT; Ireland produced 2,408 MT, compared to 1,078 MT; the Faroes produced 4,224 MT, versus 2,627 MT; and Iceland, which comprises Mowi’s Arctic Fish operations, produced 3,140 MT, compared to 2,531 MT.
The group’s value-added processing business, Mowi Consumer Products, also had a strong quarter. It recorded an operational EBIT of EUR 33.2 million (USD 37.4 million) and operating revenues of EUR 893.3 million (USD 1 billion). The division sold 57,564 MT of products in the quarter thanks to stable demand and prices.
Mowi Feed, meanwhile, recorded record-high volumes and earnings for a first quarter.
The segment’s Q1 sales totaled 111,874 MT, while its operational EBIT climbed to EUR 3.1 million (USD 3.5 million). Its revenues for the period totaled EUR 210.3 million (USD 236.9 million).
Looking forward, Mowi is keeping an eye on the “tariff turmoil” occurring in the firm’s largest market – the United States.
“In terms of the market, we still see good demand for our products, although this tariff situation we have ongoing is not good for anyone – neither for the imposer nor the addressee,” Vindheim said. “Having said that, everything that has taken place so far is manageable … but for everyone's sake, let's hope this tariff situation does not escalate.”
Vindheim also stressed that Mowi and the industry have been through far worse before.
“In the pandemic, we lost half of a market overnight, for example, and in 2014, large parts of the industry lost access to the then very important Russian market in the aftermath of its invasion of Crimea. That market is, for all practical purposes, a goner today,” he said. “Salmon normally fares well in challenging times; people also need food [during] rainy days, and it's particularly in situations like this where Mowi’s integrated and diversified global value chain comes into its own as it enables us to tailor our trade more effectively than most of our peers. It doesn't hurt being cost-competitive either.”
