Will build a new fillet factory at the Lerøy Aurora processing plant.
Over almost 20 years, Lerøy Aurora has been developed into a gold mine for the Lerøy Group, following the acquisition of the defunct Dåfjord Laks. Central to the company is the processing plant on Skjervøy, northern Norway. Now it will be modernized.
“Transport is an important input factor for our operation. The fish must be transported to the market. By sending out fillets, instead of whole fish, we save significant costs, and not least it will make our business more sustainable. The footprint is getting smaller,” general manager Kurt Einar Karlsen told Nord24 .
The idea is that the salmon should travel more easily, largely without head, tail, skin and bones.
“By sending out fillets, we save 30 percent on transport. Today, we fillet about 25 percent of our own raw material. When the new factory is completed, the share will increase to more than 50 per cent,” Karlsen told the newspaper.
The processing plant on Skjervøy, a short boat trip just north of Tromsø, has an annual production capacity of 80,000 tonnes of salmon. The construction work will start during the autumn, and the new facility will be completed during 2024.