Arturo Clement, the president of SalmonChile, Chile’s salmon industry association, believes the Chilean salmon industry must focus on improving its image with effective marketing and grow its market share in Europe by focusing on value-added products and formats.
Clement took the lead role at SalmonChile in the beginning of 2018, replacing Felipe Sandoval, who held the position for two years. Speaking on the sidelines of the recent Seafood Expo Global 2018, Clement told SeafoodSource that the industry needs an extensive effort in marketing to improve its image, one of the motivating factors for the association to form the Chilean Salmon Marketing Council, which is currently dedicated to promoting Chilean products in the United States market.
Clement said that in Europe, Chilean salmon is at a disadvantage due to logistical and distribution costs, and the distance also impairs the industry’s ability to compete with fresh salmon products. To gain market share, the industry must focus on high-quality frozen and value-added products, following on its success in these areas in the U.S. market.
“Europe is the largest salmon market in the word. Even if we have a distribution disadvantage, we must add an important presence with value-added products and innovating change. [By doing so], we can be recognized as a good supplier and increase our market share,” Clement said.
The executive added that the government should be more involved and called for a single agency to oversee marketing efforts, and for authorities to invest more resources, as previous and current efforts are done without the support needed, through Chile’s investment promotion agency ProChile.
“ProChile has done extraordinary work but always with limited resources,” Clement said.
In Europe, Chile’s position has not been as strong as Norway. Furthermore, frozen products are generally not as valued among European consumers as fresh. However, a focus on added value formats will help improve the also bring benefits for the retail chain.
“We have certain products [in] retail, which are portions with modified atmosphere packaging. It’s a great product because it’s easy to handle and extends the shelf life,” Clement said. He added that frozen products can in fact be highly valued, as is the case for the industry’s products in Japan, and Chilean producers have always been flexible to consumer needs among different markets and cultures.
Clement also addressed the algae blooms, like the one registered in 2016, which have had serious consequences for the industry and its image in receiving markets.
“It is always a concern, because the algae blooms happen when the temperature is high, especially summertime. Three years ago, we had a very big algae bloom and this year we were able to handle it. It’s a natural phenomenon,” Clement said.
The executive would not speculate or predict if it could get worse in the future, and instead pointed out that it could occur in any season around the world, factors which he believes will mitigate its impact on Chilean salmon perceptions.
The use of antibiotics is another concern, and Clement said that the industry has been able to reduce its usage by 10 percent for the last three years. However, they remain a necessity because there are diseases that only can be addressed with antibiotics, even if vaccines for the salmon are improving in quality, he said.
Clement said that Chile’s salmon industry has improved its position and has a much better outlook than five years ago. Improved market prices and decreased costs have helped and is seen in company results, giving an opportunity to invest in innovation and improvements.
“For companies there has been good profits for the last four or five quarters and very good natural -conditions. Now we can work with more resources to improve and use more technology,” Clement said.
The executive said that the industry is expecting growth of between six and eight percent in 2018, in line with growth in 2017.
