Puerto Montt, Chile-based salmon farmer Yadran is shooting to increase annual production to 40,000 metric tons (MT) and post earnings before interest, taxes, debt, and amortization (EBITDA) of USD 60 million (EUR 49.5 million) by 2023, the firm said in its annual report.
Yadran produced nearly 29,000 MT in 2020 and forecasts production of 33,000 MT for this year. However, in line with the rest of the salmon farming industry, the company had negative financial results in 2020. Net losses reached USD 12.8 million (EUR 10.5 million) with a negative EBITDA of USD 1.5 million (EUR 1.2 million). At the same time, due to the pandemic, the company's sales fell 21 percent to USD 141 million (EUR 116 million).
The company highlighted an 8 percent increase in value-added products compared to 2019, reaching 69 percent of that sold in 2020. Yadran diversified its products to meet the changing demands during the health crisis; whereby in 2019, portions represented 11 percent of total value-added products, mostly for foodservice, in 2020 this was expanded to 18 percent, going exclusively to retail.
"We were able to redirect our sales to markets with better margins, increasing sales to the US by 36 percent and to the Russian market by 80 percent," general manager Benjamin Holmes said. The U.S. represents 41 percent of the company's total exports.
“The average harvest weight [of 5.56 kilogram whole fish equivalent] in 2020 was 3 percent higher than that of 2019, the cost of fish in the water decreased by 5 percent and the rate of antibiotic consumption was 429 grams per ton produced, falling 16 percent and accumulating a 46 percent reduction in the last three years,” he added. “These results confirm that our quality strategy, focused on guaranteeing optimal farming conditions for our salmon, is the right way forward and that which will allow us to consolidate our company in the future.”
Yadran is looking to expand operations at two of its farms in southern Aysén Region, with each project costing USD 5 million (EUR 4.2 million), for a total investment of USD 10 million (EUR 8.4 million), according to documents the firm submitted in February to the Chilean government’s environmental impact assessment system (SEIA).
