Bent Salling: Negotiations with Royal Greenland have broken down

Long-term intense negotiations between Greenland's two largest fishing companies, Royal Greenland and Polar Seafood, have broken down.

The giants have been unable to find a solution to the high-tension drama about Polar Seafood's shrimp and fish factory in Aasiaat, which is threatened with closure.

This is confirmed by Polar Seafood Greenland's co-owner and CEO Bent Salling.

- If it were only a temporary decrease in the TAC for shrimp, we could live with it. But partly we do not believe that the biological situation will improve in the near future. And partly, the Fisheries Act will force us, unlike Royal Greenland, to reduce our ownership in the fishery.

- So it is not possible to find a solution that is commercially interesting for both parties, says Bent Salling to Sermitsiaq.

Director: - We will fight until the end

The company in Aasiaat is therefore in a very critical situation. If a political solution to the problems is not found by Naalakkersuisut, according to Bent Salling, it will mean the closure of the city's largest workplace during autumn 2026. 116 employees will lose their jobs.

- Our employees and partners in Aasiaat are invaluable to the factory's success, and we continue to fight to secure raw materials for the factory's operation.

- The employees and partners must feel extremely uncertain about the future. And for the sake of our employees, a decision must be made as soon as possible.

- We owe it to them and the city to evaluate all options and will fight until the end. We are sure that a political solution will be found. We cannot imagine that the factory will be allowed to close, says the director.

Broadside to the Self-Government

Bent Salling comes with a broadside to the Greenlandic Government after Polar Seafood has thrown in the towel in the negotiations with Royal Greenland:

- We find it strange that Royal Greenland is being granted a quota of 5,000 tons of cod to build a factory in Tasiilaq with very few employees, but that it apparently wants to do something to solve the problem around Aasiaat.

Greenlandic Polar Seafood Greenland A/S and Danish Polar Seafood Denmark A/S own 57 percent and 43 percent of Polar Raajat, which owns and operates the shrimp and fish factory, respectively.

The Government has received a clear message

Polar Seafood's top executives have for several years made politicians in Naalakkersuisut and Inatsisartut aware of the problem that the shrimp factory was in danger of closure with the new fishery law.

According to Sermitsiaq's information, Polar Seafood has given the officials in the Self-Government a clear message about the seriousness of the matter. Namely, that there is no use in further negotiations with Royal Greenland. There is no commercial solution to the problem. It is a political problem, is the message from the company.

Therefore, Polar Seafood is once again leaving it to the Government of Greenland to find a solution to save the Aasiaat factory. Just as Polar Seafood has consistently stated that the matter must be resolved.

- Since the first round of consultations on the new Fisheries Act, we have pointed out the risk that the factory cannot survive.

- We see it as a problem created by legislation and politics, and believe that the solution lies in the same place, says Bent Salling.

Peter Borg, Minister of Fisheries, Hunting and Self-Sustainability of Greenland, has been in dialogue with Royal Greenland and Polar Seafood since February this year to find solutions. This has happened after Polar Seafoods announced earlier this year that the Aasiaat factory was to be closed.

At the same time, the director of Polar Raajat Jan Weinrich and the chairman and CEO of Polar Seafood Greenland, Bent Salling, on the one hand, and CEO Toke Binzer from Royal Greenland on the other hand, have held negotiations. Those negotiations have now broken down.

Factory to be closed in the autumn

The factory in Aasiaat has for many years produced everything from shrimp to halibut, cod, roe and crab.

- So if a permanent political solution is not found, since there is no economics in operating with the limited raw material base we have, we will close the factory permanently during the autumn of 2026.

This was stated by Bent Salling, who is the chairman of Polar Raajat, on February 16 in Sermitsiaq after a board meeting in Polar Raajat.

The factory must have at least 10,000 tons of shrimp to ensure 12 months of operation. And that is not the case. Due to a decrease in shrimp quotas, the factory will be short of a total of 4,000 tons of shrimp in 2025-26.

Unless politicians find a solution, the factory will be dealt the death blow to the factory this autumn, says Bent Salling.

- We can live with biology failing. We can handle and adapt to that. But, unfortunately, we cannot guard against politically created problems like this, which have created the threat of closing the factory in Aasiaat, he says.

Royal Greenland CEO Toke Binzer has declared in Sermitsiaq that he is open to cooperation with Polar Seafood to handle the shrimp supply, which is putting pressure on the country's factories. However, closing Royal Greenland's factory in Ilulissat, as Polar Seafood has proposed to save the factory in Aasiaat, will not be enough.

Polar Seafood: Extra quota for halibut can save factory

12 companies have applied for the Greenlandic Government's February 2025 tender for offshore quotas in West Greenland. The Greenlandic Government has planned for one or two smaller new offshore players to share in the quotas of 4,600 tonnes of Greenland halibut, 1,960 tonnes of cod and 167 tonnes of halibut. However, the quotas have not yet been distributed.

According to Sermitsiaq, Polar Seafood Greenland, which has been a long-standing player in the fishery, is interested in obtaining a share of the quotas so that the fish can be purchased for the Aasiaat factory.

This could prevent the factory from closing.

- If we could replace shrimp production in Aasiaat with halibut production, we would be able to create the same number of jobs as now.

- I see that as a win-win situation. But this will require political will, states Bent Salling.