Although it has closed its Tooele, Utah production plant, Skretting said it remains committed to investing in future production capacity in North America.
Photo: Skretting.
Skretting's production plant in Tooele, Utah, the U.S., closed its doors on July 1, 2024. In an emailed statement from the Nutreco Group company, Trevor Stanley, Managing Director of Skretting North America, said they had made this "difficult decision" after careful consideration "to successfully navigate the current market conditions in Western North America."
"While this decision was not easy, it emphasizes our focus to optimize the efficacy and efficiency of our operations to best serve our valuable customers," he explained.
Skretting North America Managing Director claimed these "decisive actions" have been taken after experiencing a stagnant U.S. market and a 40% reduction in the salmon aquaculture industry in British Columbia since 2020.
"This decision focuses on optimizing our operational footprint and production capacity utilization across North America, reallocating resources to operate as efficiently as possible while maintaining sufficient capacity to serve our customers with the best available technology for high quality feeds," Trevor Stanley continued.
The company confirmed to WeAreAquaculture that its customers' needs will now be met from two facilities in Canada. "Our Vancouver BC plant will primarily cover the needs of our Western North American customers, while our St Andrews, NB plant will cover needs of our Eastern customers," said the Managing Director of Skretting North America.
The executive said the feed company understands the impact of this closure on Tooele's team members and local community and assured it will make every effort to relocate eligible personnel to different Skretting/Nutreco sites in North America.
"Taking care of our team members is our top priority and we encourage them to apply for other open roles within the company," he said. "We understand this decision has a high impact on our staff in Tooele and are working to assist impacted employees to make this transition as smooth as possible."
In response to questions from WeAreAquaculture, the company said that while it could not go into business-sensitive topics, it could share that some key employees have been successfully transferred to its Canadian operations.
Finally, Trevor Stanley stressed that the company - which recently changed CEO and inaugurated a fish feed plant in Nigeria - remains committed to maintaining its leading position in fish feed production and strengthening its strategy to become stronger in the long term.
"Skretting remains open to investing in future production capacity within North America and will not allow feed production capacity to become a factor that limits growth in the aquaculture industry," the company's North America Managing Director concluded.