Bergen, Norway-headquartered Grieg Seafood harvested 21,000 GWT (gutted-weight tons) of Atlantic salmon in Q1 2024, surpassing its previous guidance for the period of 17,800 GWT.
According to Grieg’s latest trading statement, it harvested 9,400 GWT in Rogaland and 5,700 GWT in its Finnmark region in Q1 2024, versus 7,500 GWT and 7,850 GWT, respectively, a year prior. Grieg’s Canadian operations in British Columbia produced 700 GWT, while its Newfoundland farms produced 5,200 GWT. No harvest was reported for BC in Q1 2023, while Newfoundland’s first harvests were completed in Q4 2023. Grieg’s complete Q1 2024 report will be released on Thursday 16 May 2024.
Grieg harvested 72,015 GWT of salmon in 2023, down 15 percent from 2022’s 84,697 GWT and well below its original 2023 harvest guidance of 87,000 GWT. Biological events, including the Spironucleus salmonicida parasite, winter ulcers, and jellyfish, impacted its 2023 harvests, particularly in Finnmark, where the volume ended 8,000 GWT lower than the company expected.
Lerøy Seafood Group (LSG), also based in Bergen, harvested 26,400 GWT of salmon and trout in this year’s opening quarter (excluding volumes from Scottish Seafarms). This volume was just over 2,200 GWT less than Q1 2023.
Lerøy Aurora harvested 6,000 GWT, Lerøy Midt produced 13,700 GWT, and Lerøy Sjøtroll produced 6,700 GWT, of which 3,300 GWT was trout. LSG’s total wild-catch volume, from its Lerøy Havfisk arm, in Q1 2024 was 24,100 metric tons (MT), representing a decrease of more than 1,100 MT year over year. The Q1 2024 catch included 6,700 MT of cod. Lerøy’s complete Q1 2024 report will be released on 15 May 2024.
In 2023, Lerøy harvested a total 160,000 GWT of salmon and trout and caught 75,900 GWT of fish and shrimp.
Meanwhile, the volume of salmon harvested by Glyvrar, Faroe Islands-based Bakkafrost Group in Q1 2024 increased by 3,300 MT year over year to the equivalent of 14,300 MT head-on gutted (HOG) fish, according to its latest trading update.
In the Faroes, the company’s Farming North operations contributed 4,600 MT, up from 4,100 MT in Q1 2023, while its Farming West farms supplied 7,500 MT, an increase from 3,800 MT, and its Farming South farms provided 2,200 MT, down from 3,000 MT. Bakkafrost’s Scottish operations harvested 7,300 MT of fish, down from 8,100 MT in Q1 2023. Its North farms provided 4,000 MT, and its South operations supplied 3,300 MT. The group’s feed sales for Q1 2024 totaled 27,000 MT, up from 22,300 MT a year previously.
Bakkafrost’s full Q1 2024 report will be released on 6 May 2024. The group harvested a total 73,006 MT of salmon in 2023. It has forecast a 2024 harvest of 91,000 MT gutted weight, with 66,000 MT coming from the Faroe Islands and 25,000 MT from Scotland.
Bakkafrost, Lerøy, and Grieg have announced longer-term harvest targets of 165,000 MT, 205,000 GWT, and 120,000 to 135,000 MT, respectively.
