AquaChile, Chile’s largest salmon farmer, has published its 2020 Integrated Report, which combines its sustainability and annual reports.
With the report's release, AquaChile has become the first company in Chile - along with parent company Agrosuper - to employ indicators from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) for the meat, poultry, and dairy industry.
In the 246-page report, AquaChile, which is the world's second-largest salmon farmer, said in 2020, it sold products in 50 countries. Only 3.8 percent of its products were sold domestically, with the remaining 96.2 percent reaching North America, Central America, South America, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. Its most-important markets were the U.S., Japan, Brazil, and Russia.
It sold a total of USD 1.14 billion (EUR 944 million) in fish last year, of which USD 909 million (EUR 753 million) sold abroad. Of the total exports, USD 410 million (EUR 340 million) went to the U.S., USD 244 million (EUR 202 million) to Asia, USD 142 million (EUR 118 million) went to Europe, and USD 109 million (EUR 90.3 million) went to other Latin American markets – with the remaining USD 3.3 million (EUR 2.7 million) going to what it called “Eastern markets.”
Other statistics the company's report highlighted include:
- A USD 6 million (EUR 5 million) investment in individual recirculation technologies at its Hollemberg fish farm;
- A 37 percent rate of recirculated water at its farms;
- An 11 percent reduction in carbon footprint compared to 2019;
- No fish escapes since 2016;
- 6,225 employees, 36.7 percent of which were female and 63.3 percent were male.
Last year, AquaChile saw net losses of CLP 156 billion (USD 214 million, EUR 181 million), compared to profits of CLP 50.2 billion (USD 69 million, EUR 58 million) in 2019. Agrosuper's revenues from aquaculture were down 6 percent to CLP 826 billion (USD 1.14 billion, 944 million), while its sales costs jumped 21 percent to CLP 814 billion (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 946 million). Agrosuper’s net profits fell 74 percent to CLP 48.2 billion (USD 66 million, EUR 56 million), with what it called “a mixed performance” in 2020 for its meat and aquaculture segments, with the former showing a positive result, mainly driven by a high demand for products in Asia.
In turn, the company attributed the negative result in its aquaculture segment mainly to the decrease in international salmon prices stemming from lower demand brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as higher production and logistics costs.
Photo courtesy of AquaChile
