Lerøy Seafood harvest volumes up 7% in Q1

The Lerøy Seafood Group announced today that its harvest volumes increased by 7% during the first three months of this year.

The upbeat message was delivered in a trading update. The company ended the first quarter with a harvest total of 42,100 tonnes of salmon and trout, against 39,400 tonnes during the same period last year.

The total has been broken down into regional figures with Lerøy Aurora harvesting 9,000 tonnes (8,500 tonnes in 2019), Lerøy Midt harvesting 16,500 tonnes (14,500t), while in Lerøy Sjøtroll the harvest volume was 16,700 tonnes (16,300t).

The Stock Exchange announcement said farming for Lerøy Aurora, in the north of Norway, was hit by more winter storms than normal, which has had a negative effect on price achievement during the first quarter of this year.

Output from trout farming was down, totalling 4,200 tonnes during Q1, against 6,400 tonnes 12 months earlier.

Lerøy also co-owns Scottish Sea Farms (SSF) with SalMar, but because it is classed as an associate, its figures are not usually included in trading updates.

A fully integrated seafood company, Lerøy owns Havfisk (Ocean Fish), one of Norway’s largest white fish trawler fleets, mainly catching cod, haddock and saithe.

The catch volume was slightly up at 25,700 tonnes during the period of which cod accounted for 11,100 tonnes (12,500 tonnes in Q1 2019).

Meanwhile, Lerøy has so far declined to comment on recent reports that it has signed an exclusive agreement with a key Chinese food distributor to supply frozen salmon fillets to the Chinese market.

The full Q1 report, which will include financial results, will be published on 20 May.