“Healthy and robust salmon, ready for harvest in Q1 2024,” Nordic Aqua Partners Chairman expects

Nordic Aqua Partners has expressed attractive margins for the locally farmed Atlantic salmon in 2024, during its results presentation for the second quarter of 2022. In more detail, the company confirmed that Project Nordic Aqua Partnerson has been developed in time and on budget. Also, the installation of RAS 02 is completed and fish will be transferred from RAS 01 to RAS 02 in July.

Firstly, it experienced the inlay of the first eggs in early March 2022. Then, the first juveniles were moved into RAS 1 and first feed in May. Then, the second inlay of eggs was scheduled for early June. Finally, the production cycle is estimated to be two years, which means the company is on time for the first harvest in Q1 2024.

Despite capex assumptions for stages 2 and 3 of NOK125/kg are maintained, current uncertain geopolitical conditions and the inflationary pressure may result in some adjustments. Nordic Aqua confirmed it will often review the budgets and monitor the situation.

Regarding the development of the project, Chairman Ragnar Joensen said: "It is still early stages, and we are very much looking forward to watching the fish growing into healthy and robust salmon, ready for harvest in Q1 2024."

"Project execution develops well, and both construction and installation of RAS equipment are developing according to schedule. The first batch of salmon is now 3 grams, and biological performance has been better than budgeted," he explained.

On the other hand, the result presentation informed about a total capital expenditure of DKK 56 million. This is mainly related to AKVA Group RAS technology. Consequently, Nordic Aqua Partners stated its financial position remains strong, and by the end of the quarter, the company had available liquidity of DKK 428 million.

Chinese domestic salmon market

Nordic Aqua Partners asses freshness and 24/7 delivery capacity of a certain product. For this reason is focusing on the Chinese domestic salmon market. Thanks to the producing locally, it eliminates importer risk before placing spot orders without securing sales.

Precisely, in Q2, estimated wholesale prices in China averaged 200 NOK/kg HOG. Along with NOAP's budgeted EBIT cost/kg of 51 NOK, the implied margin would be 149 NOK/kg. Relative to FOB-Oslo prices at 97 NOK/kg HOG in Q2, the extra margin in China was 103 NOK/kg HOG.

About Nordic Aqua Partners

Nordic Aqua Partners is a Nordic land-based salmon farming company. It uses cutting-edge Nordic technology and expertise to set up the first fully integrated and commercially scaled RAS farm for Atlantic salmon located in Ningbo, China.

The company will be the first local producer of truly sustainable and fresh salmon in the Chinese market. The current business plan is for an annual production of 20,000 tonnes of HOG. Nordic Aqua Partners A/S is listed at Euronext Growth under the ticker NOAP.