Every employee creates value worth 4.6 million NOK
Each employee in the aquaculture industry creates value amounting to NOK 2.4 million. Most of it comes from the employees working at the net-pens. In fish farming, each full-time equivalent generates NOK 4.6 million in value creation, which is approximately four times more than the average for Norwegian industry.
This is stated in the report The Ripple Effects of the Aquaculture Industry, which Nofima published today. Last year, value creation in aquaculture increased by as much as 50%. The sharp increase in salmon prices is an important explanation, but the weak Norwegian krone also contributed to the increase.
“With a sharp increase in sales prices and thus good profitability, there were major positive effects on value creation,” says scientist Audun Iversen, project manager for the report prepared by Nofima on behalf of the Norwegian Seafood Research Fund (FHF).
The average price of salmon rose from NOK 59 per kilo in 2021 to NOK 79 per kilo last year. This helped double the operating margin. Including the ripple effects, the aquaculture industry had a value creation of NOK 75.7 billion.
Corporate tax
The report also shows that the industry’s contribution to corporate tax is significant. With a total corporate tax figure of NOK 7.0 billion, the aquaculture industry paid as much as 5.7% of Norway’s total corporate tax, excluding the petroleum industry.
The aquaculture industry can be divided into fish production, hatchery/broodstock, sales companies and slaughtering/processing. As mentioned, those working with edible fish create the greatest value. Each employee creates value worth NOK 4.6 million. Those working with hatcheries and broodstock create NOK 2.3 million in value, and sales company employees each create value worth NOK 1.8 million. In slaughter and processing, value creation amounted to NOK 0.7 million per employee.
In total, there are 52,500 employees in the industry, including the ripple effects. Approximately 19,500 are involved in the core activities (aquaculture, slaughtering/processing and sales companies), while there are approximately 34,000 employees involved in the ripple effects.
Ripple effects in Oslo
Including ripple effects, Frøya is still the largest aquaculture municipality with almost 1800 employees. Close behind come Oslo and Bergen. The reason why Oslo is so high on the list is the ripple effects. In the capital, services such as banking, finance, insurance and legal services have major ripple effects. Other factors that have a positive impact on Oslo are vaccine production, some processing companies and many other different factors.
Bergen does not have as many ripple effects as Oslo, but does have more employment in its core activities, such as processing, sales and administration.
If we look at value creation (from both core activities and ripple effects), Frøya, Alta, Senja, Nærøysund, Hadsel and Bergen are the largest municipalities. Urban municipalities such as Ålesund, Trondheim and Tromsø are also included on the list of the 20 largest municipalities.
The Aquaculture Fund
The Aquaculture Fund has proved to be an important tool for supporting municipalities that facilitate aquaculture. In 2022, payments from the Aquaculture Fund reached a record high of NOK 3.1 billion, spread across 140 municipalities and seven counties. Municipalities in Troms and Finnmark received NOK 971 million over two years, Vestland and Nordland received more than NOK 800 million, while Trøndelag received NOK 732 million from the Aquaculture Fund.
Grants from the Aquaculture Fund are largest every second year because large parts of the funding stem from the state’s sale of licences and increased capacity. 2024 could be a new year with large payments to municipalities and county authorities.
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