Bergen, Norway-based salmon-farming firm Grieg Seafood (GSF) experienced a difficult first half of 2026, with weaker than anticipated market conditions and biological challenges resulting in “unsatisfactory” financial performance, according to CEO Nina Willumsen Grieg.
GSF harvested 13,788 gutted weight tons (GWT) of salmon from its Rogaland, Norway-based operations in H1 2026, which was down 15 percent from the 16,269 GWT reported for H1 2025. Average weights decreased year over year to 4.8 kilograms from 5.1 kilograms.
Lower prices and a higher share of downgraded fish saw GSF’s H1 sales revenue slip 6 percent to NOK 1.83 billion (USD 195.5 million, EUR 167.8 million), while operational EBIT fell from NOK 9.5 million (USD 1 million, EUR 871,135) to a loss of NOK 424.3 million (USD 45.3 million, EUR 38.9 million). Net losses for the period amounted to NOK 145.4 million (USD 15.5 million, EUR 13.3 million).
By business segment, lower volumes and prices, as well as higher farming costs, led to a 98 percent year-over-year decrease in Farming’s operational EBIT to NOK 8.9 million (USD 950,818, EUR 816,000), which corresponded to NOK 0.60 (USD 0.06, EUR 0.05) per kilogram, compared to NOK 406 million (USD 43.4 million, EUR 37.2 million) and NOK 25 (USD 2.67, EUR 2.29) per kilogram in H1 2025, respectively.
The firm’s newly established Sales and VAP segment, meanwhile, reported sales revenues of NOK 794.6 million (USD 84.9 million, EUR 72.9 million), an operational EBIT of NOK 14.8 million (USD 1.6 million, EUR 1.4 million), and an operational EBIT per kilogram of NOK 1.10 (USD 0.11, EUR 0.10).
Willumsen Grieg insisted that while the Sales and VAP segment delivered a “positive EBIT contribution,” it does not represent the full potential of the segment.
Overall, she said the results “are certainly not to the standard that we like to set for ourselves,”
Delivering the company’s H1 report, she explained the biology of its 2025 generation fish was impacted by sea lice issues and an unsatisfactory treatment period, which affected growth, mortality, and harvest quality through the first two quarters. This, in turn, elevated farming costs.
However, with the affected biomass harvested in H1, the event has been labeled a “one-off,” with biomass reported to be “performing well” so far in H2.
Market conditions also added to the pressure, Grieg said, confirming that strong global supply growth in the period impacted salmon prices, resulting in lower price achievement.
Following the sale of three farming regions to fellow salmon-farming firm Cermaq last year, GSF was also a company in transition during the first six months of this year, but Willumsen Grieg said that transition is complete, which should lead to more focused operations and financial improvement.
“Today, we are a focused Rogaland operator with a clean capital structure. From here, the agenda is simple: strengthen the core, keep taking costs out, and optimize post-smolt as our main competitive advantage,” she said. “A transformation of this scale is demanding for any company, but it has built the decisiveness and focus that I believe will leave us stronger, even with a challenging start to this year.”
Looking ahead, strong production by the end of Q2, with a maximum allowable biomass (MAB) utilization of 96 percent, has led to a 1,000-GWT increase in GSF’s full-year guidance, with the expectation that 31,000 GWT of salmon will be harvested by the end of the year. It is also maintaining its farming cost guidance of NOK 67.50 (USD 7.21, EUR 6.18) per kilogram.
Also noting the fact that feed prices going into Q3 have increased due to tighter raw material supply, Willumsen Grieg said that GSF has taken targeted actions to contain these costs, including the revision of feed recipes and the introduction of land-based proteins and poultry meal.
“With these measures, we have absorbed 50 percent of the raw material increase,” she said. “While we believe the increase in price is not permanent, we see it as essential to include a wider range of alternative ingredients, both for sustainability, cost, and nutrition.”
Elsewhere, Willumsen Grieg highlighted that Årdal Aqua, of which it owns a one-third stake, completed its first full land-based harvest, with the pilot providing valuable insights, high survival rates, and a 95 percent superior share.
“We now have enough completed cycles to fine-tune it. Increasingly, that fine-tuning is about improving smolt quality and the value each kilogram realizes on different sites throughout the year,” she said. “We also see our available land-based capacity as a competitive advantage in a potential consolidation or collaboration, giving us flexibility to adjust the number and size of post-smolt supplied to additional sea licenses.”
Other factors that should positively contribute to the firm’s performance as the year winds down include growth expected from a new processing facility near Oslo and GSF entering into an agreement to purchase up to 50 percent of the harvest volume from fellow Norwegian producer Lingalaks.
