K Smart Farming, the joint-venture (JV) company created by Norwegian land-based salmon farmer More og Romsdal, Norway-based Salmon Evolution and Seoul, South Korea-based Dongwon Industries, has signed a new agreement for feasibility studies to be conducted on potential smolt and grow-out facilities in South Korea.
In March, Salmon Evolution entered the JV agreement with Dongwon regarding the establishment of K Smart Farming, a South Korean company with the purpose of developing, constructing, owning, and operating land-based facilities for salmon farming in the country.
Since this announcement, the parties have been working to secure data regarding the quality of the planned smolt site in Jeungseon and a grow-out location in Yangyang with a 20,000-metric-ton annual capacity.
Salmon Evolution said that as these studies have been “satisfying,” K Smart Farming has now entered into an agreement with the Norwegian company Artec Aqua regarding a feasibility study for the two facilities. The outcome of this study will be the basis for further concept development, detailed engineering, and its application for relevant building permits, it said.
“We are very pleased with the progress of our joint venture with Dongwon in South Korea. We are also happy to announce that the partnership between Salmon Evolution and Dongwon continues to develop. This feasibility study is the first of many engineering and construction contracts that K Smart Farming will enter into, and we are excited to continue to work closely with Dongwon in building up K Smart Farming as a substantial land-based salmon farmer in the Korean market over the coming years,” Salmon Evolution CEO Håkon André Berg said.
Dongwon Industries’ President and CEO Myoung Woo Lee said earlier this month hebelieves that farmed Atlantic salmon has a bright future in South Korea, with the market capable of reaching 100,000 metric tons (MT) by 2030.
He told this year’s North Atlantic Seafood Forum that the land-based fish farm in Yangyang is expected to yield 10,000 MT of salmon by 2025 and 20,000 MT by 2030.
Photo courtesy of Salmon Evolution
