Health, production issues cost Statt Torsk NOK 12m

Norwegian cod farmer Statt Torsk has been hit by high mortalities and production issues this summer.

The company has said the problems are likely to cost it up to NOK 12 million (£920,000). It has suffered a high level of mortalities at its Stokkeneset location in the west of the country, which occurred during June and July, as temporary.

Statt Torsk said in a close of trading press release to the Oslo Stock Exchange that the economic cost of the Stokkeneset mortalities was likely to be NOK 4.5m (around £346,000). The cost of the reduced production at its Rekvika site is expected to be up to NOK 7.5 million (£578,000).

The company is expecting its harvest at Rekvika to be around 280 tonnes short of target.

The cause of the mortalities has been identified, and “appropriate measures” have been taken”, Statt Torsk said, although the company has so far not revealed exactly what the problem is.

A year ago, Statt Torsk announced it had won a new supply contract worth around £6m.

In February this year the company said it was scaling down harvest plans to focus on contract deliveries rather than selling fish on the spot market. It makes regular deliveries to a pilot customer in Spain.

While cod farming in Norway is still a relatively small activity compared to salmon farming, it is on the increase.

This week the Norwegian Seafood Council reported that 318 tonnes of farmed cod worth NOK 20m (£1.5m) were exported last month. The figures represents 11% of total fresh cod exports in July.