Chilean salmon farmer Camanchaca registered a 36.4 percent year-over-year increase in harvest volume of during the first quarter of 2020, but lower prices took a toll on profits.
Santiago, Chile-based Salmones Camanchaca S.A. is a vertically integrated salmon producer with 1,500 employees total existing production capacity of 70,000 to 75,000 metric tons (MT).
The company reached a total volume of 13,902 MT WFE – corresponding to 13,142 MT of Atlantic salmon, up 29 percent versus Q1 2019, and 760 MT of coho. This marks a milestone completion the company’s first production cycle for coho. Revenues increased 12.5 percent to USD 83.9 million (EUR 76.2 million), yet earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) fell 15.7 percent to USD 15.1 million (EUR 13.7 million) which the company attributed mainly to the drop in prices “within a context of larger scale and normal oceanographic factors.”
During the quarter, with an average harvest weight of 4.9 kilograms, the ex-cage cost of live Atlantic salmon decreased 9.2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2019, reaching USD 3.15 (EUR 2.86) per kilogram. Total processing costs were brought down 14.2 percent to USD 0.91 (EUR 0.83) per kilgoram WFE, thanks to better scale and efficiencies implemented in the plants.
With respect to its operations, the company’s productive capacity has been at about 60 percent but that is expected to rise to 80 percent in a week and reach total capacity in July, Camanchaca Vice President Ricardo García said during the company’s most recent hareholders meeting, per Diario Financiero.
Further, the company has opened up maritime routes to compensate the roads being cut off on the island of Chiloé, where the company has many of its farming centers.
“Costs are higher but this has allowed fluid transport of the harvest,” García said.
To prioritize certain areas, Camanchaca will postpone non-essential investments, cutting 30 percent off its original investment plan.
In relation to COVID-19 and Chile’s salmon business, in the release García credited “the high degree of support and adherence to the prevention measures adopted very early, which allowed us to avoid contagion within our facilities and to continue working with lower density shifts, adjusting to new circumstances and giving workers the confidence that working in Camanchaca is as safe as being in their own home. ”
The virus’s impact on the company and the salmon sector is still uncertain, he added, but “our industry is a producer of very healthy food, and we do not see an impact on demand beyond the short-term, and so we maintain our fundamental plans.”
The company provided an estimate of 2020 salmon harvests of 51,000 to 53,000 MT WFE of Atlantic salmon and 3,500 MT WFE of coho.
