Royal Greenland invests in Nordic Marine Nutrition
June 1st, Royal Greenland acquired the majority shareholding in Nordic Marine Nutrition as part of an increased focus on utilising side streams and by-products especially from cod and shrimp, and as part of the company's pilot project in seaweed cultivation.
At the beginning of 2020, Royal Greenland entered a collaboration with Nordic Seaweed to develop competences within the seaweed area. Nordic Marine Nutrition was previously owned by Nordisk Tang with Kristian Ottesen at the helm, which is why the collaboration with Kristian is now formalised in Nordic Marine Nutrition. In the new constellation, however, Nordic Marine Nutrition will not only contribute with knowledge of seaweed, but also with extensive experience and competences in the utilisation of side streams and by-products.
New knowledge for the organisation
Royal Greenland's increased focus on side streams is a natural extension of a circular mindset that continuously works throughout the entire seafood value chain.
Thomas Meiner Jensen, Group Purchacing Director says;
Nordic Marine Nutrition has extensive knowledge of side streams - in particular, they have worked on several projects within animal feed among other things. We expect that with these competences on board, we can take our own work with side streams to the next level and ultimately create added value. Side streams and offcuts are in general a challenge where Royal Greenland has an untapped potential, where we want to strengthen our efforts and earnings.
The work on side streams will initially focus on shrimp shells, but later also on off-cuts from cod and cod skin. The fishing industry has generally not been leading this area and Greenland represents a challenge logistically. Therefore, in the start-up phase, the focus will also be to learn more about the different production sites and build up a reasonable volume to get a good flow for production.
Kristian Ottesen, Director at Nordic Marine Nutrition explains;
Initially, of course, we need to work on uncovering the process for side streams and identify the opportunities that can bring value to the organisation. The shrimp shells are a good place to start, as they are a well-known product in the industry and represent a value especially in Asia, where they are used as an ingredient in flavour enhancers.
The first and last link in the seaweed value chain
Nordic Marine Nutrition will also strengthen Royal Greenland's competences within seaweed, both by working with the cultivation, but also in the last link of the value chain with developing an attractive product range.
Thomas Meiner Jensen explains;
Seaweed is a new and important business area for us, that is aligned with our overall vision for the company. So far, we have invested a significant amount in infrastructure and equipment for seaweed cultivation in Greenland. We are still in a pilot phase until the summer of 2024, and it is essential to strengthen our competences as much as possible in order to succeed with the project.
Because of this, Nordic Marine Nutrition will focus on the continued development of seaweed products, including market and technology development. However, due to the company's experience in the industry and Royal Greenland's ambitions for growth and volume, a large part of the work will also be about cultivation and upscaling.
Kristian Ottesen elaborates;
"What we bring to the seaweed project is our experience with flavours, the various biocomponents and end products for consumers. But we have an ambition to grow large volumes, so we also need to look at other applications such as functional ingredients and, as a natural extension of this, also offer advice on cultivation, where we will focus on hatching. "
Nordic Marine Nutrition will work closely with Royal Greenland's Innovation Department on the seaweed project, which recently received a 5.5 million DKK grant from GUPD for further development.
