Coronavirus: NZKS focused on Cook Strait plans amid Covid-19 outbreak

New Zealand King Salmon will not lose focus of its Cook Strait plans amid the “massive disruptions” of a coronavirus pandemic, its boss says. 

“Our message to the Marlborough District Council is that we have all the face masks, gloves, smocks, if it comes to that, to enable a hearing to go ahead,” NZKS chief executive Grant Rosewarne said.

As hot summers cause salmon to die in their Marlborough Sounds pens, the company has looked to open ocean as the future of farming. Resource consent hearings are set to begin on June 22.

NZ King Salmon was exploring “every scenario” to make sure the hearings could safely go ahead, whether that was via video, or in person, Rosewarne said. 

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“Covid-19 is a terrible threat, but we already had a serious threat with hot summers. 

“We’ve got to make sure we still counter the threat of climate change whilst dealing with this immediate situation of Covid-19.”

Climate change had helped them diversify their business across different products like fine-dining, supermarkets and pet food. They also exported to across 20 countries, he said. 

“That diversification has really assisted us, to weather not only the situation with climate change, but also Covid-19.” 

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Rosewarne said closures of cafes, bars and restaurants in their “biggest market”, the United States, was the latest blow felt by the company. 

However, they were mitigating the effects through their retail business, and were still on track to hit the end of year financial target, he said. 

“What people aren’t buying in restaurants, they’re buying in supermarkets,” he said, with retail purchases “strengthening” in both domestic and international markets. 

“In the scheme of things, because people still need to eat, we’re in a relatively good place,” Rosewarne said. 

King Salmon’s supply chain team was finding new opportunities, juggling flights, airlines and freighting companies which they had never used before, he said. 

“There will be massive disruptions and we’re coping with that every day …  but so far we’re still managing to connect up with those end customers.”

NZ King Salmon’s Chinese market continued to “recover” after reopening two weeks ago, following a six-week closure. They had not seen losses during that period, as they “reallocated” to other markets, Rosewarne said. 

They had also just managed to ship a pet food container into China, which meant pet food hadn’t “taken a dent at all”, he said. 

They had not cut staff hours or their harvest, but if any employees left the company, they would review whether they could cover the role with existing team members, Rosewarne said. 

“Often this won’t be possible and we will immediately recruit.”

Rosewarne updated the New Zealand stock exchange on Tuesday saying despite impacts of the virus, NZ King Salmon expected to reach its $25 to $28.5 million target by June 30.

“We will mitigate against these impacts with a greater focus on retail and online channels, and other product formats such as smoked and frozen,” he said.

While passenger flights were reduced, they planned to extend the use of cargo aircraft, as well as frozen salmon on sea freight.