Vikings Label FZC, a Dubai-based company majority-owned by Norwegian investors, is seeking USD 25 million (EUR 30 million) to build a massive salmon farm in Saudi Arabia.
The project, which will cost around USD 90 million (EUR 81 million), will result in a sustainable land-based recirculating aquaculture system. Vikings Label plans to supply Saudi consumers with as much as 5,000 tons of salmon each year by 2023, Bloomberg reported.
Vikings Label would be the country’s first salmon farm, according to the government’s National Fisheries Development Program, Bloomberg said.
The company hopes to start building fish tanks and other aquaculture facilities in Jeddah, north of the Red Sea, in the first quarter of next year, Lukas Havn, chief executive officer of Vikings Label, told Bloomberg.
“The farm will be built in a way that’s expandable, so production can reach up to 10,000 tons. We could export to countries around the kingdom,” he said.
There are only a few places in the world where the natural environment is suited for salmon farming in the sea, said Vikings Label on its website.
“Therefore we believe the next stage in this massive industry is to breed fish directly in the markets that are hard to reach in an efficient and environmental way,” it said.
Vikings Label pledges not to use antibiotics in the production of its salmon.
Already, Vikings Label imports and processes Norwegian salmon.
“We have teamed up with a state of the art facility in Dubai, from there we can offer a range of products,” the company said. It offers salmon fillets, smoked salmon, portioned salmon, and other items on request.
One Saudi investor, Hani Al-Saleh, CEO of transportation services company Arabian Hala, has pledged funds to the project, according to Havn. Plus, Vikings Label is also in talks with Saudi banks and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund.
Saudi authorities want to almost double per capita fish consumption in the country to 13 kilograms (29 pounds) by the end of 2020 and to 22 kilograms, the global average, by 2030, Bloomberg said.
Photo courtesy of Viking Label
