Norwegian cod farmer Ode has received approval for its sixth sea farm, boosting its yearly production capacity to more than 25,000 tons of farmed cod. This adds significant volume and flexibility to Ode’s production capacity and is in line with the company’s ambitious growth plan. The new site has a total maximum allowed biomass of 3,500 tons, which alone will provide more than 11 million healthy, delicious, and sustainable meals to consumers around the globe.

“We already serve our customers with fresh cod every day, 52 weeks per year and this new farming site will further strengthen our ability to support the growing demand for fresh farmed cod,” stated Ode’s CEO, Ola Kvalheim.

Ode has already delivered its first three generations of farmed cod around the world, with strong reception in the market and positive feedback from its customers. The production is fully compatible with modern and sustainable practices and across all generations the results have been very solid with industry-leading survival rates, high average weights and more than 99% superior share.

Regarding trends in the market, Kvalheim observes: “We are experiencing very strong demand for our products despite the challenging macro environment in some markets, making increased production imperative to meet the market’s growing appetite for fresh farmed cod.”

The growing demand for farmed cod is driven by consumers wanting healthy and fresh seafood, produced in a sustainable way with no parasites, no antibiotics, and no GMO. During this summer farmed cod already made up more than 14% of all fresh cod exports out of Norway. With the collapsing wild cod stocks and 20% cod quotas cut in 2024, while the farmed cod production continues to grow strongly and it is not unlikely that farmed cod will become the main source of fresh cod exports out of Norway in the near future.