Grieg Seafood shifts focus to Norway.
Grieg Seafood will reallocate resources back to Norway, scaling up operations in Finnmark, as the company looks to improve biological performance following challenging results in recent years, CEO Andreas Kvame said at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum (NASF) on Thursday.
“We admit that the last couple of years haven’t been good for Grieg Seafood. The biology hasn’t gone our way in some regions,” Kvame said. “Our focus going forward will be Norway and to build up Finnmark as the region it should be.”
The company aims to replicate its Rogaland performance in Finnmark, where biological challenges have affected production. As part of the shift in strategy, Grieg has stopped investment in Newfoundland and placed its British Columbia operations on hold.
Canadian Uncertainty and Volume Decline
While Kvame sees Canada as the world’s biggest market for organic growth, he cited regulatory and political barriers as key obstacles to expansion.
“In my view, Canada has the biggest potential for organic growth in the world, but we are lacking regulatory and political will to use what is on the country’s doorstep,” he said.
Grieg now expects harvest volumes in Canada to decline by 5% to 22,000 tonnes in 2025. Kvame also pointed to external geopolitical factors affecting the sector.
“There is a guy to the south there making things a bit difficult for the Canadians for the time being,” he said.
Operational Improvements
In Norway, Grieg has reduced time at sea, cutting the average production cycle from 389 days to 276 days, which has resulted in increased survival rates, rising from 83% to 89% over five years.
The company has also lowered its sea lice treatment frequency, bringing it down from 0.86 to 0.36 treatments per cycle.
As Grieg refocuses on Norwegian growth, the company is prioritizing biological stability and operational efficiency to drive future performance.
