Bakkafrost salmon farm in Funningsfjørður, Faroe Islands.
Photo: Heinesen Myndir / Bakkafrost.
Faroe Islands-based salmon farmer Bakkafrost has released its operational update for Q3 2024, showing substantial growth in harvest volumes and feed sale volumes compared to the same period in 2023.
In Q3 2024, Bakkafrost reported a total harvest of 27,000 tonnes of salmon in head-on gutted (HOG) equivalents, marking a 29.8% increase from the 20,800 tonnes harvested in Q3 2023.
The company's Faroe Islands operations contributed the bulk of the increase, with a total of 21,600 tonnes harvested, up 29.3% compared with the same period last year. This result represents a major improvement compared with last year's "surprisingly low" growth of salmon in Q3, as CEO Regin Jacobsen described it at the time.
Bakkafrost's Scottish salmon farming operations also saw a marked rise in production, with 5,400 tonnes harvested in this year's third quarter - a 31.7% increase compared with Q3 2023.
Feed sales followed a similar upward trend, with Q3 2024 reaching 41,500 tonnes, reflecting a 15.6% increase over the 35,900 tonnes sold in Q3 2023.
However, Bakkafrost saw a significant reduction in the sourcing of raw materials for feed production during the quarter. Havsbrún, Bakkafrost's feed production subsidiary, sourced 40,000 tonnes of raw materials in Q3 2024, down 63.5% from the 109,700 tonnes sourced during the same period last year.
Bakkafrost's full report for the third quarter of 2024, which will provide further insights into the company's financial and operational performance, is scheduled for release on November 5, 2024.