October 5, 2010

 

Latin America ease decline in Chile's salmon exports

 

 

Latin American countries have apparently softened the decline of Chilean salmon exports during the first half of the year, due to a decline in the traditional export markets, such as Japan and the US.

 

Chilean salmon exports to Latin America reached a value of US$171.7 million in the first half of 2010, a figure that accounts for an increase of 24.5% over the same period last year.

 

In contrast, Japan scored a new low of 8.8%, at US$436.3 million, and US sales decreased by 28.7% to US$227.5 million.

 

For its part, exports to the EU fell by 63.5% to US$31.9 million, according to reports.

 

In total, shipments abroad of salmon in the first half of the year registered a decline of 14%, totalling US$1,025 million compared to US$1,193 million in the same period in 2009.

 

With regards to the improved performance of the Latin American market between January and June this year, Brazil was the third most important country for industry, by showing a 38% increase in Chilean salmon imports, which totalled US$124 million. This amount represented 12% of total returns.

 

Mexico also increased their purchases. Its imports rose by 8.9% in the first six months of 2010, to US$18.3 million, but the involvement of this country in the total value of exports was only 1.8%.

 

Russia was ranked behind, with US$39.5 million, China with US$25.5 million and Thailand with US$24.2 million.

 

In relation to the volumes of salmon exported by Chile, there was a fall of 33.5%: 181,393 tonnes was sold abroad in the first half of 2010, compared to 273,715 tonnes in the same period last year. With regards to prices, all markets showed significant improvements.

 

Latin America led this growth with an increase of 27.3% from US$4.1 to US$5.6 per kilogramme.

 

AquaChile was the main exporter during the first six months, with sales of US$118 million (although the figure represents a decline of 25.8% when compared to 2009). Multiexport Foods Inc. and Salmones Itata exported US$88.2 million and US$69.5 million, respectively, figures that represent positive changes of 34.1% and 1007%.

 

Meanwhile, Australis Sea showed an increase of 153.4%, with sales of US$28.6 million.