Korea choice: on-land farmer appoints head of Asia

Odd Frode Roaldsnes, 42, will focus on the Korean project K Smart Farming, which is a joint venture with seafood giant Dongwon Industries, and in developing Salmon Evolution’s other business opportunities in the Asian markets.

Salmon Evolution said Roaldsnes, who joins from seafood company Ocean Supreme in Ålesund, brings extensive experience from the salmon industry. His background is in management, business development and downstream operations where he has primarily been focusing on the Asian markets for the last 15 years.

Thorough experience

“I am very pleased to include Odd Frode in the growing Salmon Evolution team”, Salmon Evolution chief executive Håkon André Berg said in a press release today.

“He brings a deep understanding and thorough experience from the seafood industry and from doing business in Asia. He will be a key member of our company and will be very important as he will work closely with Dongwon to form our partnership in the years ahead.”

Roaldsnes, who is expected to join Salmon Evolution during Q3 2021, said he sees great opportunities for high quality land-based salmon.

“I specially see a significant potential for locally-made salmon in the Korean and Asian markets, and to be part of such a disruptive initiative is very challenging and exiting.”

31,500 tonnes

Salmon Evolution’s first production facility is under construction at Indre Harøy, on the Norwegian west coast. Once complete, the facility will have an annual capacity of approximately 31,500 tonnes (head on gutted).

The JV with Dongwon Industries involves the development, construction and operation of an on-land salmon farm in South Korea with an annual production capacity of 16,800 tonnes HOG.

Both farms will use the company’s hybrid flow-through system (HFS) technology.