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Juvenile salmon. (Photo: Stock File)
Russian Aquaculture acquires Norwegian smolt company
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Friday, July 07, 2017, 23:50 (GMT + 9)
Aquaculture firm Russian Aquaculture has acquired a Norwegian smolt company owned by Salmar ASA as part of its development strategy.
The purchased firm, Villa Smolt AS, has a license to produce an annual 5 million young salmon and trout fish and Russian Aquaculture managers expect to be able to receive the first shipment of smolt next year.
The Russian entrepreneurs trust that this operation will help the company adopt technology and valuable experience from Norwegian specialists with more than a ten year history and use this for construction of its own smolt factories in Russia.
The acquisition comes only two years after the Russian Aquaculture was on the verge of bankruptcy following mass death of fish and environmental mismanagement, which led the firm to lose about RUB 1 billion (USD 16.6 million).
According to the Russian Fishery Agency, as much as 20,000 tons of fish died in the Murmansk fish farms in the course of 2015.
After the disaster, a representative of Russian Aquaculture stated that his company suspected that smolt from Norway was the source of the destructive disease, The Barents Observer reported.
Other versions, on the other hand, considered the reason for the disease was serious mismanagement of the Russian fish facilities.
The fjords so far used for fish farming by Russian Aquaculture are today considered unhealthy and the company is therefore moving into new suitable waters.
According to the company website, it has now three farm sites in operation, all of them located on the eastern side of of the Fisherman’s Peninsula, not far from the border to Norway.
In 2016, the Russian firm increased its production to 5,300 tonnes and its net revenues to RUB 2.1 billion (USD 34 million), the Russian newspaper Vedomosti informed.
Related articles:
- Russian Aquaculture plans to raise USD 50 million in the stock exchange
- Russian Aquaculture is recovering, after a dire year
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Photo Courtesy of FIS Member  SalmonChile - Asociación de la Industria del Salmón A.G
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