A native of San Francisco, Christian Molinari has lived and worked in Chile for over 20 years, after having arrived in Santiago as a volunteer and falling in love with the culture and its people. He covered business news in Latin America for over a decade, worked in communications at IBM Chile, and currently freelances in strategic communications and reporting.
Author Archive
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted a patent to Chilean firm Ocean Arks Tech for its project to design a “superyacht” to develop aquaculture operations in the deep sea.
The company said it gained the patent on 31 December 2024 when the USPTO awarded it an invention patent following “six years of rigorous patent proceedings in the United States.”
Ocean Arks Tech said that the award marks it as
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Chile’s salmon-farming sector has been voicing concerns over significant environmental and regulatory hurdles as of late, and the challenging situation is beginning to take a toll on the industry, which saw growth stagnate in 2024.
Farmed salmon and trout continued to be the country’s largest non-mining export product in 2024, representing 5.5 percent of total exports for the year. The nation exported 782,076 metric tons (MT) of
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The Chilean branch of salmon-farming firm Cooke Aquaculture has yet again raised concerns it is being discriminated against by Chile’s Superintendency of the Environment (SMA), which the firm claims has affected its operations and for which the company continues to say it may seek international arbitration.
Cooke Chile and the SMA have locked horns for years.
The environmental watchdog has filed charges against Cooke and has
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Chilean fishing and salmon-farming firm Blumar cut its losses year over year in the third quarter of 2024, but still remained in the red.
In response to several straight periods of poor performance, the company has continued pursuing a process to transform its business operations.
During Q3 2024, Blumar’s total revenues amounted to USD 138 million (EUR 132 million), down 9 percent from the USD 152 million (EUR 146 million) the company
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Stakeholders within Chile’s salmon-farming industry have called on the nation’s government to more clearly define its stance on the future of the aquaculture sector, which is responsible for exports of more than USD 6.4 billion (EUR 6.1 billion) annually.
“We need a countrywide vision. What does the country want? Salmon farming to be an economic pillar, like it is in Norway, or have it disappear as some NGOs want?” Blumar
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The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Chile recently informed involved parties that it aims to formalize allegations brought by Chinese foodservice group Joyvio against businessman Isidoro Quiroga and former executives at salmon-farming firm Australis regarding the sale of the company six years ago.
Quiroga sold Australis to Joyvio in 2018 for USD 921 million (EUR 871 million).
Following the sale, Joyvio alleged Quiroga engaged in
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Ecuador’s National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA) has called on the government to refrain from advancing plans to issue large electricity cuts during the last two weeks of the year.
Power outages have battered Ecuador for months as adverse weather conditions have particularly affected areas where the country’s dams are located, which is especially problematic in Ecuador as hydropower comprises nearly 60 percent of the energy the nation
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Chilean fishing and salmon-farming firm Camanchaca suffered losses in the third quarter of 2024 as high fishing yields and lower salmon production costs were not enough to drag the company’s performance into the black.
Total Q3 revenues for the firm amounted to USD 160 million (EUR 152 million) – down 17.9 percent from the USD 195 million (EUR 185 million) it posted in the third quarter of 2023. Its EBITDA before fair value reached
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Chilean salmon-farming association SalmonChile has defined three main areas of focus for the country’s salmon-farming sector to strategize around as the industry evolves.
The focus areas arose from “Dialogues for the Salmon Farming of the Future” events, which SalmonChile sponsored to collect the opinions of the general public in Chile’s south, where the majority of the country’s salmon farming takes place, on
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