March 28, 2011
 

Chilean value of fish exports rise

 

 

As compared to January 2010, there was a rise of 29.9% in the exports of fishery and aquaculture products from Chile in January 2011.

 

The value of exports reached US$465.7 million in January 2011 in contrast to US$358.6 million in January 2010.

 

The volume exported during the first month of this year fell by 2%, from 100,400 tonnes in 2010 to 98,400 tonnes in 2011, said the Undersecretary of Fisheries (Subpesca).

 

The structure of participation in relation to the volume of exports was led by the frozen fish and fishmeal industries, which represented 62.7% and 17% of the total volume respectively in January 2011, according to the latest Report on the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector by Subpesca.

 

The average price of fishery products exported in January was US$4.70/kg, which is 32.5% higher than the same month of 2010.

 

According to statistics from Subpesca, the main export was Pacific salmon, which constituted 37.1% of the total value of foreign sales.

 

This was followed by rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon, pelagic group s/e, Patagonian toothfish, southern hake and mussels.

 

Chilean products were destined for 64 countries, of which the main nine nations dominated 88.5% of all exports. Among them are Japan, US, Brazil, China and Spain.

 

With respect to the extractive sector, the accumulated value of fish exports (34,600 tonnes) in January 2011 totalled US$87 million, indicating a negative variation of 14.4% compared to the same month last year.

 

In January, a total of 16,740 tonnes of fishmeal was shipped abroad for US$24 million, while a year earlier they had exported 22,000 tonnes for US$32.4 million.

 

The most important destinations for fishmeal were China, Japan and Canada. Of the total quantity of fishmeal that was exported, 50.9% was of prime quality, 25.9% was standard and 22.2% was of a super prime quality.

 

Foreign sales of frozen seafood products totalled US$41.5 million, which represented a 6.6% rise over the same month of 2010.

 

These products were mainly directed at the US, Spain and China, with shares in value of 33.4%, 11.4% and 9.2% respectively.

 

As for canned products, sales in the first months of 2011 totalled US$6.7 million, which is 40.4% less than a year earlier.

 

The main markets were Spain, Hong Kong and Singapore, with shares of 50.2%, 13.8% and 5.9%, respectively.

 

Subpesca also stated that in January 2011, a total of US$55.5 million worth of fresh refrigerated products were exported, a figure that accounted for a rise of 47.7% over the same month of 2010.