Through the joint acquisition of 66.7 percent of the shares of recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) farming company Danish Salmon A/S (DS), Marubeni Corporation and Nippon Suisan (Europe) B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd. (Nissui), have made their first move into land-based salmon farming.
In a statement, Marubeni said that Hirthals, Denmark-based DS is firmly established in the salmon RAS business; one of the few companies with an already-established RAS salmon farming method. Founded in 2009, DS is currently producing around 1,000 metric tons (MT) of salmon.
“Marubeni, along with Nissui, a company possessing substantial farming, have jointly acquired DS’s shares in order to grow their business in Europe, and for the purpose of expanding their RAS operation to countries outside of Europe as well,” the statement said. “Through this acquisition, Marubeni aims to satisfy the increasing global demand for seafood by providing a stable supply of sustainable seafood to consumers all over the world and contribute to solving the social challenge of increased protein demand.”
The purchase price of the acqusition was not released publicly.
According to Marubeni’s statement, the expansion of land-based salmon farming can be achieved through the use of RAS, which is not limited by geographical conditions. The company also believes that it is a farming method with the potential to minimize environmental impact by reducing both the risk of water pollution and the risk of escaped farmed fish.
“It is for these reasons that RAS is currently drawing attention as a future solution to a potential protein shortage caused by an increased global population,” it said.
Tokyo, Japan-headquartered Marubeni is an international trading company with business divisions in iron and steel, information technology, utility, and infrastructure, energy, food, metals, and mineral resources, development and construction, industrial machinery, and chemicals.
Also based in Tokyo, Nissui produces fresh, frozen, and canned farmed and wild-caught seafood products, as well as fish oil and fishmeal, while also operating a cold-storage business.
