Founded in 1987 in the Norwegian coastal town of Kristiansund, a renowned hotspot for clipfish, Kontali has – for decades – served as the leading knowledge-based consultancy and data provider for the global fish farming industry. Kontali has collected production data, established the first production and market simulation models, and developed an extensive database on salmon, as well numerous other seafood segments.
In 2020, Kontali was acquired by Arendals Fossekompani as the first of a series of acquisitions by Alytic, a newly established portfolio company specializing in developing and growing data-driven companies with strong domain competence. Since the acquisition, Kontali has expanded its offering by including more species and geographies and is now widely regarded as a leading global competence center on aquaculture and fisheries.
“We focus on species that are of commercial interest. That probably seems obvious, but some of the largest species of fish are not commercial, in the sense that they are produced for a local market. Serving as the prime example, carp is produced in massive volumes in China and other Asian nations, and predominantly consumed in those same markets. Shells, algae, seaweed, kelp, and mussels fall into the same category,” explains Ragnar Nystøyl, Chief Analyst at Kontali.
Salmon is a completely different story. It is primarily bred in large production facilities in areas with cooler climate, such as North America, Chile, Tasmania, New Zealand, and in the North Atlantic. From Norway alone, more than 20 million salmon meals are produced every day, mostly for export from a country with only 5.5 million inhabitants.
“Salmon is our heritage and our base field of expertise. Building on decades of salmon market analysis, we have replicated the salmon methodology to include new species”
Ragnar Nystøyl, Chief Analyst at Kontali
Kontali has already earned global recognition for its expertise on sea bass and sea bream, two interconnected species largely produced in the Mediterranean, and for warm water shrimp, which is produced in tropical and sub-tropical areas.
“For bass and bream, we were strongly encouraged by some of our salmon clients to expand our offering. They trusted our salmon analysis and market data and were in want of a similar service for bass and bream. It was a natural expansion of our field of expertise,” says Nystøyl.
He sees a lot of potential in warm water shrimp.
“The segment is lagging 20 years behind the salmon segment. Information structure is weak and the need for modernization is evident. In volume and value, the market for warm water shrimp is twice that of salmon,” says Nystøyl.
Based on 20 years of personal experience to the industry, Nystøyl is one of the most quoted fish analysts in Norwegian media, and seafood press around the world. He is often, but not always, happy to provide insight.
“It is a balancing act. We like Kontali to be quoted without giving away the essentials that our clients pay for to have exclusively,” says Nystøyl.
Typical Kontali clients include producers, developers, bank, brokers, and investors – all demanding market understanding for appropriate decision-making.
“A long-standing client is the European Union Commission. As part of a consortium, we recently won another renewal of a 3-year contract. So, by the end of this term we will have served the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA) with market data and analysis for 15 consecutive years,” says Nystøyl.
The interest in fish market data and analysis grew alongside the increase in aquaculture, that is the human production of fish. For some time, aquaculture has produced more volume than traditional fisheries. The latter is now more of a supplier to the former, by delivering fish meal and fish oil to aquaculture facilities through aqua feeds.
Going forward, Nystøyl sees continued potential for growth.
“With salmon being such a dominant species in Norway, most Norwegian do not know that salmon represents only 3-4 per cent of the total volume produced in the world of aquaculture. By broadening our competence, we plan to grow into more species and geographies,” says Nystøyl.
About Kontali
Founded in Kristiansund, Norway, in 1987, Kontali has served as the leading knowledge-based consultancy and data provider for the Norwegian fish farming industry, collecting production data, establishing the first production and market simulation models, and developing the salmon database.
Today, Kontali is widely regarded as a leading competence center on aquaculture and fisheries with a strong global presence systemizing the world of fisheries and aquaculture.
Kontali’s mission is to always have the deepest understanding of this realm and the species within it, the connections between them and to share the knowledge of seafood to create a more balanced world above and below the surface.
Since 2020, Kontali has been a portfolio company of Alytic, a company fully owned by Arendals Fossekompani. Alytic was established in 2020 to create value from domain knowledge and data by acquiring and scaling-up companies with strong domain competence, massive data sets, and a clear potential for growth. Other acquisitions include Utel, Veyt and Factlines.
Today, Kontali is widely regarded as a leading competence center on aquaculture and fisheries with a strong global presence systemizing the world of fisheries and aquaculture.
Kontali’s mission is to always have the deepest understanding of this realm and the species within it, the connections between them and to share the knowledge of seafood to create a more balanced world above and below the surface.
Since 2020, Kontali has been a portfolio company of Alytic, a company fully owned by Arendals Fossekompani. Alytic was established in 2020 to create value from domain knowledge and data by acquiring and scaling-up companies with strong domain competence, massive data sets, and a clear potential for growth. Other acquisitions include Utel, Veyt and Factlines.
