Thor Salmon delivers its first batch of smolt

Thor Salmon, the Icelandic company specialized in land-based salmon farming and smolt production, announced yesterday that the first batch of smolt from its facility in Þorlákshöfn, South Iceland, was delivered at the beginning of this week.

More than 330,000 smolt, each weighing approximately 100 grams, were transported by truck to the facilities of the buyer, the fellow Iceland-based salmon farming company Kaldvík. According to a statement from Thor Salmon—formerly known as Thor Landeldi—the delivery of the juveniles was completed without incident.

"We consider it a significant milestone to deliver the first smolt from our facility in Þorlákshöfn, demonstrating that all our plans for development and growth are progressing as expected," said Steinþór Pálsson, CEO of Thor Salmon, commenting on the news.

In the release announcing this milestone, Thor Salmon said that the smolt facility—whose construction began in July 2024, with collaborators such as Innovasea as technology supplier, and which received the first eggs less than a year later—is now fully operational and the condition of the fish is very good.

The company, which said it will deliver more than one million additional smolt to customers in the near future, also noted that some of the stock will be transferred to the company's own grow-out operations later this year.

Construction of the first phase of the grow-out operation is underway

Thor Salmon is building a land-based hybrid flow-through salmon farm located, as mentioned, in South Iceland, near Þorlákshöfn, in a unique location that offers clean, high-quality seawater naturally filtered through lava at an optimal temperature for salmon farming. 

With a production capacity of 20,000 tonnes per year, it is developing its farm in four phases, starting with this smolt facility already in operation, and followed by a 5,000-tonnes on-growing facility whose construction is already underway and fully financed.

The Icelandic company specified that fourteen tanks are being built for the grow-out system, with a total volume of approximately 52,000 cubic meters. If all goes according to plan, the first tanks will become operational this fall.

The land-based aquaculture company also said that the planned expansion of production will be carried out in stages, with each phase being financed before the next expansion begins. Its current outlook is for annual production to exceed 40,000 tonnes.

Majority owned by funds managed by the Iceland's oldest fund management company, IS Funds—IS HAF Investments slhf. and IS HAF Thor Co‑Investment hf., which together held approximately 73% of the shareholding at the end of 2025—, Thor claims that every aspect of its operation is designed for long‑term development, with a strong emphasis on disciplined management, biological stability, and sustainability.