Proximar's Japanese land-based farmed salmon, Fuji Atlantic Salmon, at a retail outlet in Japan.
Photo: Proximar Seafood LinkedIn page.
On the last day of September, we learned that the first locally produced Japanese Atlantic salmon harvest was a reality. Proximar Seafood said then that these salmon would be shipped to customers in the Greater Tokyo region. The company in charge of its distribution, the Japanese trading giant Marubeni Corporation, has now announced that, following the launch in the local market, it will also consider exporting it "to neighboring countries that highly value Japanese food products" in the future.
"Marubeni, together with its subsidiary Marubeni Seafoods Corporation, will provide fresh and sustainable seafood products to the tables through a sales network cultivated over many years in the seafood products sales business while building the brand of Fuji Atlantic Salmon, the first farmed Atlantic salmon in Japan," the company stated in a release launched today.
Proximar's facility in Oyama, at the foot of Mount Fuji, is Japan's first large-scale salmon farm. From there, it plans to ship approximately 4,700 tons of salmon by 2025 and 5,300 tons when fully operational in 2027.
To this end, the Norwegian land-based farming company has a 10-year sales and distribution agreement with Marubeni from October 2022, and, in June this year, the Japanese corporation already reached the first sales agreement with a customer specializing in seafood products.
Based on this exclusive distribution partnership, Marubeni has officially launched the sale of Fuji Atlantic Salmon, distributing it mainly to fishmongers, mass merchandisers, and department stores, highlighting the differential values of Proximar salmon.
In its release, Marubeni stressed that with global demand for salmon on the rise, and a supply of wild and sea-farmed salmon reaching a limit due to ecosystem conservation and limited areas suitable for marine farming, land-based aquaculture - not limited by geography and with a low environmental impact in terms of water pollution and runoff from farmed fish - is expected to provide a sustainable and stable supply of seafood.
"In Japan, there are similar challenges and needs, and the market for RAS Atlantic salmon is expected to continue to grow," it added.
Regarding the differential values of Proximar Seafood, Marubeni said that this is not only the first Atlantic salmon aquaculture project in Japan, but also one of the largest aquaculture projects in the country, as well as an "environmentally friendly business that recirculates 99.7% of the water used through a Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS)."
Japanese trading giant also noted that local production reduces the use of air transport, which downsizes CO2 emissions by approximately 57,000 tons per year compared to conventional import processes.
In addition, due to the strategic location of Proximar's farm, fresh salmon can be delivered to the Tokyo metropolitan area on the same day of harvest, in the shortest possible time.
So, based on all these advantages and the value that some of its neighboring countries place on food products originating in Japan, it is not surprising that Marubeni Corporation has decided to explore the possibility of exporting Fuji Atlantic Salmon beyond Japanese borders.