Bakkafrost reports Scotland harvest up, Faroes down in Q1

Bakkafrost’s Scottish arm more than doubled its salmon production during the first three months of this year, according to a trading update published today.

Output from the company’s Faroe Islands sites was down, however, by more than 6,000 tonnes year on year.

The group total for the period was 19,100 tonnes against 24,400 tonnes 12 months ago.

The harvest from Scotland totalled 8,100 tonnes against 4,000 tonnes a year ago, and was entirely concentrated in the Scotland North operation. There was no production from Scotland South this quarter.

Last week Bakkafrost chairman Rudi M. Hansen told investors in his annual report that operations in Scotland were showing a real improvement after earlier biological and other problems, thanks to significant investment by the company.

He said: “In Scotland, the most important investments are the replacement of the old obsolete hatcheries acquired with three new state-of-the-art hatcheries based on the same technology and experience from the Faroe Islands.”

The Faroe Islands harvest totalled 11,000 tonnes against 17,500 tonnes in Q1 last year.

This breaks down as (last year’s figures in brackets) Farming North 4,100 tonnes (10,100 tonnes); Farming west 3,800 tonnes (5,300 tonnes) and Farming South 3,000 tonnes (2,100 tonnes).

All harvest volumes are provided in head-on gutted (HOG) equivalents. Feed sales between January and March this year totalled 22,300 tonnes.

The full Q1 2023 report will be published on 9 May.