Skretting saw negative volume growth in the third quarter of 2014 mostly due to lower sales in Norway as a result of lower volumes to Marine Harvest, as anticipated. Fish feed revenues of €639.4 million are 8.2% lower than last year driven by a 5.8% decrease in organic volumes mainly due to significantly lower salmon feed sales to Marine Harvest in Norway. The sales volume growth of fish feed for other species was 5.4%
Knut Nesse, CEO Nutreco, said non-salmonid feed volumes grew strongly with a solid contribution from Ecuador. \"We have a global brand and produce feed in 16 countries for over 60 species\".
\"Our Norwegian business represents approximately 10% of total Nutreco operating profit. Norway will always be important from an innovation perspective with the firm intention to be the market leader in salmonid feed. More than 70% of fish feed production takes place outside of Norway and we expect this volume to grow further\".
The volume share in revenues of fish feed for non-salmonid species is now 41% compared with 37% in the same quarter last year. The potential of feed for shrimp, tilapia and other non-salmonid species will continue as fish farming practices improve. This will encourage further demand for higher quality fish feed which we offer due to our leveraging of the innovations already developed for salmon feed, Nesse stated.
\"The performance in the third quarter is in line with our expectations and reflects organic volume growth in animal nutrition, higher non-salmonid fish feed volumes and volume growth in Iberia. I am very pleased with the appointment of Samson Li as new Managing Director for our Asia business unit. I am confident that he will lead the acceleration of our growth in Asia\", Nesse said.
