Construction work on the first commercial Atlantic salmon farming facility built in Japan has been completed. Proximar Seafood's land-based production plant in Oyama is finished, and the company has today taken over ownership of the entire facility. If everything goes according to schedule, the first harvest will take place in the third quarter of 2024.
"Constructing the facility according to plan proves our significant progress in Japan," said Joachim Nielsen, CEO of Proximar. "With the construction now behind us, we can switch all our focus over to operations and production, where we remain on track with our plan of first harvest in Q3 2024."
The company said the installation of the remaining RAS equipment in the grow-out building will continue in the coming months together with its technology partner AquaMaof. In his interview with WeAreAquaculture for our TalentView series, Proximar CEO Joaquim Nielsen said that the Israeli technology company had designed the facility in Japan in what he defined as a "friendly operational way." Once the facility is completed, the first transfer of fish from the hatchery and nursery building will take place in the fourth quarter of 2023.
"With this completion, we will also proceed to review further capacity expansion in Japan as previously communicated. Proximar sees a strong growth potential as a leading supplier of Atlantic salmon for the Asian market. We are also motivated by the support for such growth by our Japanese partners and banks," Joachim Nielsen stated.
Along with the delivery of the facility, Proximar has also completed the second and final drawdown of the ¥8.8 billion (US$66.1 million at grant) blue sustainability loan provided by Mizuho Bank, Shizuoka Bank and Development Bank of Japan in April 2023. In today's release, the company highlighted the continued strong support shown by Japanese banks for the project.
Likewise, in its announcement of the completion of the construction works of the first commercial Atlantic salmon land-based farming facility built in Japan, Proximar also wanted to highlight the important work of its Japanese construction partner, Daiwa House. Although the construction work was completed in August, the handover takes place now, following the completion of inspections by the relevant authorities, third parties, and Proximar itself.
"Daiwa House has been an important partner for Proximar since 2018, and we are very pleased with their performance," acknowledged CEO Joachim Nielsen. "Daiwa House has completed the construction works according to schedule, with excellent quality," he concluded.
Proximar Seafood is a land-based salmon farming company that has just completed the construction of Japan's first large-scale Atlantic salmon farm. This facility, at the foot of Mount Fuji in Oyama, started production in October 2022. With an annual production capacity of 5,300 tons of head-on salmon (HOG), the first harvest is expected to serve fresh salmon to Japanese consumers in the third quarter of 2024. The company has an agreement with Marubeni to be its exclusive distributor in the Asian country.
