Marubeni-backed salmon farm starts Japan sales as part of diversification push

Proximar Seafood AS

25/10/2024 10:36

By Katya Golubkova
       TOKYO, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Marubeni  8002.T  on Friday
began selling salmon from a farm operated near mount Fuji by its
Norwegian partner, marking another step in Japanese commodity
trading houses' expansion into the food business. 
    Wild and sea-farmed salmon is one of the areas Marubeni and
its rivals have been targeting- a growth market in Japan, which
aims to raise the share of locally sourced seafood it consumes
to 94% in 2033 from 54% now.
    Marubeni has a stake in Danish Salmon, one of the world's
top land-farmed salmon producers that focuses on the European
market, and now is handling sales of Atlantic salmon for
Norway's Proximar Seafood AS  PROXI.OL , which operates Japan's
first land farm. 
    Proximar plans to produce 5,300 tones of salmon in 2027, or
around a 10th of Japan's annual Atlantic salmon consumption.
    "By farming salmon locally in Japan, we are participating in
increasing Japan's self-sufficiency rate," Proximar Chief
Executive Joachim Nielsen told reporters.
     Faced with volatile fossil fuel markets and in search for
stable revenue streams, Marubeni and its rivals have been
diversifying into the food business, where demand is set to grow
alongside rising world population.
     Mitsubishi owns Norway-based Cermaq, one of the world's
leading salmon farmers, and is also exploring salmon land
farming in Japan, while Mitsui & Co  8031.T  is a shareholder of
the world's biggest shrimp farming and processing companies in
Ecuador and Vietnam.
    Mitsui expects profits in its lifestyle unit, which includes
food, to exceed those earned by chemicals this fiscal year. 
    Trading houses are also exposed to convenience stores, with
Itochu  8001.T  owning second-ranked FamilyMart and Mitsubishi
co-owning third-ranked Lawson. 
    Their diversified profiles have caught an eye of U.S.
billionaire investor Warren Buffett whose Berkshire Hathaway
 BRKa.N  has this year raised its stake in the five biggest
Japanese trading houses to around 9%.


($1 = 151.8900 yen)

 (Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Additional reporting by Yuka
Obayashi
Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
 ((mailto:jekaterina.golubkova@thomsonreuters.com;))