The Norwegian cod farmer Ode announced today it has received approval for its sixth sea farm. The company has confirmed to WeAreAquaculture that the new site will be located within the municipality of Volda in Northwestern Norway. The farm has a maximum total biomass allowance of 3,500 tonnes and will increase the company's annual farmed cod production capacity to more than 25,000 tonnes.
"We already serve our customers with fresh cod every day, 52 weeks per year and this new farming site will further strengthen our ability to support the growing demand for fresh farmed cod," said Ode's CEO, Ola Kvalheim. Just the production of this new facility will provide more than 11 million healthy and sustainable meals to consumers around the world.
The award of this new site adds significant volume and flexibility to Ode's production capacity and is in line with the company's ambitious growth plan. As its CEO said in an exclusive interview with WeAreAquaculture, it aims to become a leading seafood company over the next 30 years.
Currently, Ode has already distributed its first 3 generations of farmed cod around the world, with a great reception in the market and positive feedback from its customers. In all of them, the results have been very solid, with industry-leading survival rates, high average weights, and a superior share of over 99%.
This stability and the capacity for increased production volumes that this new site will provide are essential for the Norwegian cod farmer to respond to the current market trend. "We are experiencing very strong demand for our products despite challenging macro environment in some markets, making increased production imperative to meet the market's growing appetite for fresh farmed cod," stated Ode's CEO.
Consumers are increasingly demanding healthy and fresh seafood products that are sustainably produced, and free of parasites, antibiotics, and GMOs. Thus, the demand for farmed cod has increased to the point that this summer it already accounted for more than 14% of all fresh cod exports from Norway.
As they see it in Ode, with the collapse of wild cod stocks and the 20% cut in cod quotas in 2024 while farmed cod production continues to grow strongly, it is not unlikely that farmed cod will become Norway's main source of fresh cod exports in the near future.
"It's been fantastic reception. People are really excited about the quality of the product," Ola Kvalheim told us in the above-mentioned interview after presenting its farmed cod for the first time to a global audience at the Seafood Expo 2023 in Barcelona. This week, Ode's sales and marketing team is back in Spain, this time in Vigo, Galicia, to meet with current and future customers, as well as the whitefish sector in general, at the XXIV International Frozen Seafood Products Exhibition, Conxemar.
Ode is a fully integrated Norwegian seafood company offering customers sustainable farmed cod of premium quality. The company aims to innovate the whitefish category by offering a 52-week supply of sashimi-grade cod to customers worldwide, with excellent shelf-life and product flexibility. Headquartered in Ålesund, Ode has sea sites in Nordfjord, close to Davik, Alida in Volda, Vorpeneset in Vestnes, and Aukan in Aure, all served by Lumarine's rearing facility at Tjeldbergodden. This new farm is also located in Volda. Today the company has more than 85 highly qualified employees.