Faroese salmon company Bakkafrost Group has confirmed the restrictions imposed towards the end of 2018 on products from its Glyvrar harvesting facility being sold to Russia have now been lifted and that it can resume exports to the market.
Russian authority Rosselkhoznadzor placed the temporary export ban on products produced in the production plan in Glyvrar – in the Faroe Islands – in November last year after finding traces of bacteria in samples sent to the market.
Once reported, the Faroese Food Authority Heilsufrøðisliga Starvsstova inspected the facility and all the documentation relating to the case. Its findings were shared with Rosselkhoznadzor.
Delivering Bakkafrost’s fourth-quarter 2018 results earlier this month, Regin Jacobsen, CEO of Bakkafrost, confirmed that the limited access to the Russian market and disrupted deliveries to other high-end markets from its new harvest plant in Suðuroy had resulted in a weaker than expected performance by its Farming segment.
Despite harvesting a higher volume in the last quarter, the segment achieved a reduced operational EBIT of DKK 204.4 million (USD 30.8 million, EUR 27.3 million) in Q4 2018, which corresponded to DKK 21.56 (USD 3.26, EUR 2.89) per kg. For 2018, Farming’s operational EBIT was DKK 965.7 million (USD 145.9 million, EUR 129.3 million), down from DKK 1.3 billion (USD 196.5 million, EUR 174.1 million).
In total, Bakkafrost harvested 12,234 metric tons (MT) of salmon (gutted weight) in the last quarter, up from 11,470 MT in Q4 2017. For the full year 2018, the company harvested 44,591 MT of fish, down from 54,615 MT in 2017. It expects its 2019 harvest to total 54,500 MT.
