An auction of new permits for the farming of salmon, trout, and rainbow trout along Norway’s coastline concluded with 30 fish-farming companies investing almost NOK 6 billion (USD 679.7 million, EUR 569.2 million), the country’s Ministry of Trade and Industry has confirmed.
The ministry held the auction on 18 August, 2020, with permits made available for production areas along the coast where the environmental situation is considered good. Measured by permitted biomass, more than half the new permits are located in northern Norway.
It has been estimated that the sales will enable the Norwegian aquaculture industry to expand by more than 3 percent.
“We have now sold new salmon permits for a record high NOK 6 billion, twice as much as the previous auction. This confirms that we have a forward-looking and offensive industry. This is good, and important for jobs and value creation along the coast,” Minister of Fisheries and Seafood Odd-Emil Ingebrigtsen said.
Some 42 companies registered for the auction, which made 27,188 metric tons (MT) of production capacity available. All the permits were sold.
“I am pleased that so many companies have bought new permits, and that there is great variation among the breeders who have won. This shows that auctions can be a good form of allocation for both small, medium and large fish farmers,” Ingebrigtsen said.
In the auction, Frøya-headquartered SalMar bought the most permits, acquiring a total capacity of 8,057 MT maximum allowed biomass (MAB) for a total of NOK 1.76 billion (USD 199.4 million, EUR 167 million). Some 4,263 MT of the acquired capacity is in production area 6-7, with a total consideration of just over NOK 1 billion (USD 113.3 million, EUR 94.9 million). The remaining 3,794 MT is distributed between production areas 11 to 13, with a total consideration of NOK 758 million (USD 85.9 million, EUR 71.9 million).
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