Breeding technology and competitive position

Summary

Norway is the worlds’ leading supplier of farmed atlantic salmon. This is the result of favourable natural conditions, and a relatively simple, low-cost technlology, exploiting the availability of free eco-system services.This report investigates how this position might be affected by the development of new technology for closed containment-farming. Our main finding is that new technology must be developed much further in terms of efficiency to be able to compete with the efficiency of the net-cage system. The main difference in terms of cost stems from the very low investment per unit farming volume of the net-cage system. This conclusion might over time be altered by major changes, like for instance increased cost due to environmental regulations. In discussions about competitive positions, one should also keep in mind that Norway’s positions stems not only from natural conditions, but also closeness to the markets, a strong knowledge basis, good infrastructure and good management practices.