February 11, 2021

Russian Aquaculture reports weakened harvest in 2020

The 2020 operating results for Russian Aquaculture, Russia's largest salmon farming business, showed lower harvests and earnings last year.

Russian Aquaculture said the COVID-19 pandemic was not the main reason for its 8% decrease; instead, abnormally low water temperatures in the first half of 2020 was stated as the cause. Additionally, the shift in fish slaughtering activity resulted in slower fish growth.

Total harvest volumes (heads on gutted) was 15,500 tonnes in 2020, compared to 16,900 tonnes in 2019. The Murmansk region, Russian Aquaculture's largest salmon farming area, shares the southern Barents Sea coastline with northern Norway and accounted for 14,200 tonnes of the company's 2020 total harvest.

Russian Aquaculture's 2020 revenues came out at RUB8,346 million (US$113,004,840), a 5% drop from RUB8,798 million (US$119,124,920) in 2019. The company said the average salmon selling price increased by 4% to RUB538 (US$7.28) per kilo.

The Russian Aquaculture group currently owns cultivation rights for 37 sites for farming salmon and rainbow trout, with potential for a total production volume of around 50,000 tonnes of salmonids.

 - Fish Farmer Magazine