Arctic char farmer goes bust
Blåfjell AS, which was the first company in Norway with a full-scale farm for Arctic char on land, has been forced to cease operations due to liquidity problems.
Published
Last week, the Arctic char producer Blåfjell (Blue Mountains) had to cease operations and file for bankruptcy. It was the first in Norway with a full-scale Arctic char farming facility on land, but now it's over for the Trøndelag residents.
"We have not been able to find investors to be involved in the long term, and so the only thing left to do is to stop the business," chairman Arne Øvereng of Blåfjell told E24.
Production problems this summer
The chairman told the newspaper that he joined the board four weeks ago with the mission of finding investors and building on the work done by previous boards. It didn't work out and now Blåfjell has been forced to cease operations.
Production problems this summer, which the company blames in part on extreme heat, have affected both fish and equipment, resulting in a much lower stock of fish ready for harvest in the second half of the year than previously planned.
This in turn has led to lower revenues than the company had anticipated and a decline in liquidity.
Believed in a positive outcome
Blåfjell AS had lost money in each of the previous years. When LandbasedAQ Norway interviewed CEO John Helge Inderdal in 2024, he believed it would be the first year with a positive result.
That's not how it turned out, and last year ended with a pre-tax loss of NOK 10.5 million.
Last week, a trustee was appointed in the district court, and it is the trustee who has now taken over responsibility for what happens to the employees and the fish.
The company has eight permanent employees and 15 on-call temporary workers.
