Marine Harvest expanded into fish feed with its first factory opening at Bjugn during 2014. The factory has been a big success and supports around 80 per cent of the company's Norwegian feed requirements.
The company has seen, however, that third party European feed purchases remain significant, within Scotland, Ireland and the Faroe Islands as its salmon farms are 100 per cent supplied by external feed companies.
A second feed factory is therefore in line with the strategy of being a fully integrated protein company.
After careful consideration, Scotland is viewed as the best alternative due to its ability to fully serve the company's internal feed requirements in a cost effective manner.
The factory will be positioned to deliver feed to Marine Harvest operations in Scotland, Ireland and the Faroe Islands, but this may change or develop over time. In addition the range of feed types will be broadened to include starter feed for freshwater and organic feed for the company's Irish operations.
Accordingly, the Board of Directors of Marine Harvest ASA has approved the development of a new feed factory in Scotland. The specific location is yet to be decided.
The investment is estimated to approximately £80 million and will be phased over the years 2016-2018, with approximately 95 per cent of the capital expenditure falling within 2017-2018.
