The salmon market in the USA is mainly import-based, and the country’s large-scale domestic producers are just emerging. Atlantic salmon is the most consumed salmon species.
Whole chilled salmon and its fillets are highest in demand on the market. They account for the main part of the import.
Today, only a small amount of salmon is raised in seawater cages; there are several emerging major players in land-based aquaculture, such as Atlantic Sapphire and Aquabounty (both are in the development stage).
The huge potential of the market, which has been import-based so far, provides new players with an opportunity to take on the niche of farming and producing chilled salmon. From technological perspective, the most relevant technology for the US market is farming salmon in land-based aquaculture systems. In terms of technology, there are several solution providers that are currently market leaders in producing equipment for land-based aquaculture; they are located in Israel and Denmark.
Once their projects were launched, some companies faced high fish mortality or failed to reach declared capacity. That is why choosing the right farming technology and a proven concept is a key factor for implementing new investment projects.
Today, most of the new projects based in the US face problems in obtaining farming permits, which impedes industry development. In addition, required permits vary greatly from state to state.
Another significant problem is access to debt financing for faster project implementation. The majority of ongoing projects were initiated by people from Scandinavia who received funding from investors and banks in their countries.
For the market to develop faster, it is necessary to:
· shape project development concepts and select an effective and proven technology
· introduce a less complicated permitting process or find areas for which permits have already been obtained
· have access to debt financing.