Wal-Mart seeks alternative salmon suppliers

American retail giant Wal-Mart is looking for backup salmon suppliers due to the limited supply of Chilean salmon.

Wal-Mart is only looking to fill in supply shortfall, and will continue to purchase Chilean salmon, the retailer said, denying reports that it had stopped buying Chilean salmon due to production problems derived from infectious salmon anemia (ISA) in Chile.

Caren Epstein, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said company had changed retailers due to the lack of available Chilean salmon. She did not clarify which countries the company is now buying from.

The news generated great commotion in Chile, but Carlos Odebret, the general manager of the Salmon Industry Association AG, said Wal-Mart had never been a major buyer of Chilean salmon.

Consultations with several producing companies revealed that Wal-Mart had not purchased salmon for more than a year mainly because of product availability, but they also confirmed that the retailer is not a major customer, Odebret said.