Under the Surface - Kjersti Sandvik - 5, Updated April 20, 2016

Now, starting on page 30 of the PDF:

1. Sandvik: The effect was anyway that Norwegian salmon disappeared from the US market almost overnight when International Trade Commission (itc) in 1991 adopted a average dumping duty of 23.8 percent for the whole Norwegian Atlantic salmon and a subsidy fee of 2.27 per cent for slaughtered Norwegian laks. 16 

This is the origin of the 26% tariff that USA charged Norway for dumping salmon. It was rescinded in 2015, 24 years later.

2. And, as happens frequently in fish farms, when one country's fish farms have a problem, other countries jump in. Quite often, they are the same companies, Cermaq, Marine Harvest, Grieg Seafood. So the company in one country improves at the expense of the same company in another country.

Sandvik: Chile increased its salmon exports to the United States. The as did Canada. 17 

3.  Sandvik: Norwegian salmon industry perceived constantly trade obstacles protectionist, and found that country who swear by global free trade, leading a completely different practice when their own countriesbusiness interests trues. 18 

Do note that the response is that the other country is the problem, not that Norway dumped the salmon at low prices, to get out of the jam of the salmon-berg, and etc. This is where the following expression comes from: problem, what problem, there's no problem, but if there is a problem, you're the problem.

4.  In a twist, the EU and Norway set a floor price. Note that this is the same thing as a cartel. Circa 2003, Sandvik: Now came the new year with dumping accusations and safeguard measures on imports of salmon to the EU. In 2005 it set a minimum price on Norwegian salmon to 2.85 euros kilo. 

The result is that Norwegian companies turned and looked for new markets.

5. After 20 years of back and forth over dumping with the EU, Norway successfully argued that the EU had no actual evidence of dumping. Love those fish farm lawyers, eh?

6. In the interim, the pressure led to the Norwegian government to make changes. Sandvik:Pettersen

repealed the requirement that owners should have a local presence. But the government would not be involved in that licenses themselves had no market value. 

There are two important comments to be made here: 1. This is the beginning of fish farms no longer being locally controlled for local employment and local revenue, and the sending of revenue out of the area to to corporations, multinational corporation, and shareholders. Note that fish farms always say to governments around the world that they are about employment and revenue. Not so. But the story started in Norway. 2. The government made a fatal error in believing that licences (meaning concessions) had no value. 

Sandvik: Later, when authorities nevertheless had to realize that there was a market for itself concessions, they began to charge for new allocations. 

7. Sandvik: Conversations around the tables at fairs and investor seminars went on how much the plants were worth. salmon licenses authorities for years claimed had market itself, went up to several tens of millions million per license. Here came it either to hang out with and buy or sell, or to be left standing in the cage while farmed yachts flew past. Small family businesses could cause millions into the account. Others did not like good deals. Also, the state bought into the salmon industry.

So, speculation began, in licenses themselves, worth millions without ever putting a fish in the water, or lining up a job for someone, or putting a net together. And the government buying-in created Cermaq, some years later.

8.  The government company, owned by the Hydro authority was called Hydro Seafood. Sandvik:

While the ten largest salmon farming companies in 1990 accounted for eight percent of total production, the proportion in 2001 risen to 46 percent. Hydro Seafood was the breeding locomotive. Cartel nature of the industry. Boom.

And, its shares ultimately went to the upstart Marine Harvest. 

9. This resulted in, from Sandvik: "Hydro Seafood was sold for 3.5 billion and added to the small

farming company, Marine Harvest, Nutreco already had secured. The Norwegian-owned farmed locomotive was history, and Nutreco could reap the fruits of Hydro Seafood acquisitions raid of concessions along the Norwegian coast."

So a boom bust industry, multinational corporations, or 'foreign country ownership', Nutreco being Dutch owned, as well as loss of control over local jobs and revenue, and the cartel nature of small becoming huge enough to affect the market - in 10 years. The margin on fish farms is 23 to 25%, which is enormous.

10. Note well that Hydro, after busily acquiring concessions, then the sale resulted in the whole lot being passed to foreign ownership in the acquisitive, takeover, big business model answerable only to shareholders. Note also that the promises of jobs and revenue became, at this point simply a part of communications spin, as the company had no connection with Norway. Once again, Sandvik: Nutreco could reap the fruits of Hydro Seafood acquisitions raid of concessions along the Norwegian coast.

11. There has been a history of big companies owned by the state for agriculture purposes as far back as 1928. Sandvik:Within a few years he Geir Isaksen – then Chairman of Norway Windmills, part of Statkorn Holding - Along with then-Chairman of Statkorn Holding, Johnsen (Ap), to sell off stakes in flour and concentrates. For it was not the agricultural related part in the agricultural company Johnsen and Isaksen wanted to develop further. The duo, however, was interested in a small stake in fish feed company NorAqua. Kongstanken were buying up the feed, which theyquickly realized would provide greater profits than to ensure grain supply for human consumption. Isaksen fielded a solid political network, Johnsen with his political shrewdness, and in Within a few years the state became the majority owner of fish feed company.

So, Norway bought its own companies, and then the shrewdies within it moved into fish because they could make more money than supplying humans with agricultural products.

Sandvik: In spring 2000 asked the Board of Statkorn Holding Parliament on rapid processing of a proposed capital increase 1.5 billion to form a new breeding locomotive. There was no lack of political ambition to set started anew. 

So, the boom phase of a new company, with the government in a conflict of interest, but who cares?The government gave the new firm 1.2 Billion, as in Boom.

 13. The government owned 80% of the new company, and they called it, wait for it, Cermaq. And it was listed on the Oslo stock exchange, meaning that it had shareholder owners, right from the start, and thus was not about jobs for locals and revenue for the region.

Sandvik: With the state as owner of 80 percent in Statkorn Holding gave Parliament the same autumn ahead to inject 1.2 billion, so the company could buy up aquaculture. The company was named Cermaq and was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange's main list in November 2000. Shortly

later feed manufacturer ewos secured and incorporated Cermaq. The price of ewos was 1.8 billion Norwegian kroner. The company had branches in the UK, Chile and Canada, as well as in Norway. The transition from green to blue Arable in Statkorn Holding was completed. 

Sandvik: The government's involvement in the industry was little consistent. First they shared the salmon licenses free. Then they were even one of the most eager acquirers of concessions and contributed to the pure acquisition raided along the Norwegian coast. When farmed locomotive began to get on track, they sold it out of the country. So it went for six months and politicians were finally aware of the bonanza aquaculture our.

As in Boom, conflict of interest, billions. 

14. Panfish was created and had a meteoric rise from zero to billions, as in boom. Sandvik:Pan Fish is the world's largest farming company at this time. During eight years, from formation in 1992 and until 2000, grew the value of company to over ten billion.

Arne Nore wanted to make a fulling vertically integrated company of Pan Fish, and with small investors in Norway, and others, the company ended up adrift and then crashed, them losing money and yet another Bust after a Boom. Panfish was merged with Marine Harvest. Pan Fish lost 4.5 billon crowns.

15. The banking system was rocked to its core as well. Sandvik: Banks' losses on farming bankruptcies in 1991 came up inone billion. SpareBank 1 Nord-Norway also lost money on aquaculture, all NOK 933 million in 1989. The following year the loss was 446 million kroner. 23 

So Boom Bust both inside and outside the industry with farmers taking big losses for selling their farms to the business, taking shares and then the shares plunged.

16. The small but then huge, Salmar, was created in 1991. Sandvik: SalMar was founded by Gustav Witzøe in 1991 and started with the acquisition of a bankrupt with one license. 

As in, Boom. Salmar did its own precessing, a major good, vertical integration thing, and by 1999 was worth 266 million kroner.  By 2014, Witzoe was worth 8.4 Billion kroner, as in, wait for it, Boom.