September 9, 2010

Global farmed salmon output seen to grow up to 12% in 2012

Global farmed salmon production is expected to grow 8-10% next year and up to 12% in 2012, said Marine Harvest executives on Tuesday (Sep 8).

According to the world's largest farmed salmon producer, global farmed salmon output totalled 1.32 million tonnes in 2009 and should fall to between 1.22 million and 1.25 million tonnes this year - a drop of 5-8%.

The Norwegian company also projects global farmed salmon output to reach between 1.31 million and 1.38 million tonnes in 2011 and between 1.41 million and 1.55 million tonnes in 2012, returning the total to pre-2009 levels.

On the other hand, the much-publicised infectious salmon anemia outbreak in Chile was responsible to drop in supplies over the past two to three years.

Chile's farmed salmon production is forecasted to plunge to as little as 81,000 tonnes this year, after it crashed from 363,000 tonnes in 2008 to 215,000 tonnes in 2009. However, the country's farmed salmon output is projected to total as much as 156,000 tonnes in 2011 and 257,000 tonnes in 2012, according to Marine Harvest.

Meanwhile, Marine Harvest CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog added that Marine Harvest expects to increase its farmed salmon production around 5% over the next three to five years.

Aarskog said that there's "ample" room for organic growth but did not rule out the possibility of acquisitions.

As for the company's financial projections, Marine Harvest said it is striving for a dividend capacity of NOK1.1 billion in 2011 - based on per-kilogramme EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) of NOK6. Should it attain a per-kilogramme EBIT of NOK8 or NOK10, its dividend capacity would reach NOK1.7 billion and NOK2.4 billion, respectively, next year.

Buoyed by low supplies and high prices, Marine Harvest achieved an EBIT, or operating income, of NOK792 million (US$126.4 million) in the second quarter of 2010, nearly triple last year's second-quarter total.