Norwegian salmon-farming firm Salmon Evolution announced it plans to close out the year by achieving its Phase 1 biomass growth targets and completing the Phase 2 ramp-up of its Indre Harøy land-based salmon operation.
“The Phase 2 project is nearing completion, and Salmon Evolution is gradually taking over the rest of the facility,” the company said in a Q3 operational update, noting that the project was progressing as planned.
The Phase 2 project incorporates four pre-grow-out tanks, which once operational, will raise the company’s production capacity from 7,900 metric tons (MT) to 18,000 MT of head-on gutted (HOG) salmon.
According to Salmon Evolution, the company is preparing for upcoming smolt releases, with expectations that smolt stocking frequency in Q4 will allow it to reach targeted production run-rate by mid-2027.
During Q3 of this year, Salmon Evolution harvested 1,596 MT of HOG salmon, an increase of 15 percent year over year. The company was able to report an all-in price of roughly NOK 65 (USD 6.78, EUR 6.05) per kilogram, marking a 7 percent year-over-year increase. Roughly 94 percent of the harvest was graded superior, which Salmon Evolution said was “in line with the long-term trend.” The company also reported “stable operations and minimal mortality.”
Salmon Evolution also reported that a single underperforming Phase 1 group held net biomass growth back and resulted in a lower average harvest weight; that group made up 25 percent of tank capacity in Q3 and was fully harvested by the end of the quarter.
Salmon Evolution reported net growth of 1,984 MT live weight during the three-month period, with an average harvest weight of 3 kilograms HOG. Now that the underperforming group has been harvested, the company anticipates Q4 Phase 1 harvest weights in the “middle to high end of the 3- to 4-kilogram range.”
The company is preparing for substantial growth; in presenting its Q2 financial results in August, Salmon Evolution CEO Trond Håkon Schaug-Pettersen said production volumes would more than double over the next 12 months.
"With Phase 1 steadily improving and Phase 2 ramping up according to plan, Salmon Evolution is entering a period of substantial growth,” he said at the time. “Combined with an expected recovery in salmon prices, this puts us in a good position as we enter what we believe will be one of the most exciting phases in the company's history.”
