Norwegian firm eyes first salmon farm in Saudi Arabia

Vikings Label, a company majority-owned by Norwegian investors, is planning to set up Saudi Arabia’s first salmon farming-project, Bloomberg reported, citing the firm’s CEO Lukas Havn.

“We aim to supply Saudi consumers with as much as 5,000 tons of the cold-water fish each year by 2023,” Havn said.

“The facility will cost about $90 million (SAR 337 million), and we are seeking to raise $25 million (SAR 93.7 million) of that from investors,” he continued.

Havn also mentioned that Vikings Label is in talks with Saudi banks and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF).

The company hopes to start building fish tanks and other aquaculture facilities north of the Red Sea city of Jeddah in the first quarter of 2020.

“The farm will be built in a way that’s expandable, so production can reach up to 10,000 tons,” Havn said.