Salmones Camanchaca reported an “extraordinary low-scale quarter,” harvesting just 13 percent of its full-year estimate of its farmed Atlantic salmon production.
The result, which the Santiago, Chile-based salmon farming and fishing company blamed on algae blooms, low oxygen levels at its farms due to a supplier shortage, as well as on harvests from low-density sites, pulled down Camanchaca’s 1H 2019 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by 38 percent, to USD 21.5 million (EUR 19.3 million) and net profit down by USD 11.2 million (EUR 10 million), down 41 percent from the same period in 2018.
Camanchaca harvested 7,136 metric tons (MT) of salmon in the second quarter, down from 11,132 MT in the second quarter of 2018, and it experienced higher processing costs due to its lower harvest volumes and a higher volume of value-added products being added into its product mix. However, the company achieved higher prices for its products and upped its guidance for its 2019 Atlantic salmon harvest to 54,000 MT to 55,000 MT of Atlantic salmon, plus an additional 4,500 MT of coho salmon.
In its second-quarter financials presentation, Camanchaca said it is aiming to reduce its processing costs through investments in efficiencies, particularly in its fresh cutting lines, its freezing and portioning capacity, and its logistics. It stated a goal of reducing the price differential between Chilean and Norwegian farmed salmon by half. The company is targeting a total harvest between 75,000 MT and 80,000 MT of salmon by 2023, with about 63,000 MT of that total being Atlantic salmon and between 12,000 MT and 17,000 MT being coho.
“Coho has attractive qualities and strong growth potential,” the company said in its announcement.
With the 2022 termination of a trout-farming joint venture with Caleta Bay involving sites in Chile’s Region X and Region XI, Camanchaca will have expanded potential to grow its coho production, the company said. Coho is “well adapted to local sanitary conditions” in Chile and has “strong volume growth potential,” Camanchaca said. The company said it plans to invest up to USD 90 million (EUR 81.1 million) in coho farming through 2023, with USD 20 million (EUR 18 million) put toward egg supply and smolt production, USD 30 million (EUR 27 million) dedicated to site infrastructure build-out, USD 10 million (EUR 9 million) put toward pre-rigor filleting and continuous frozen-tunnel processing, and USD 30 million (EUR 27 million) for working capital costs.
In its presentation, the company also reaffirmed its environmental commitment, vowing to move toward carbon neutrality by 2025, which will require the elimination or cancellation. of nearly 20,000 MT of carbon dioxide the company emits annually.
The company reaffirmed a previous pledge to reduce its use of antibiotics by 50 percent by 2025, and to achieve the Aquaculture Stewardship Council certification of the majority of its production by 2021.
“Sustainability is essential for salmon farming,” it said. “Salmones Camanchaca is a long-term advocate of sustainable salmon farming and is continually developing its sustainability framework, focusing on healthy and nutritious food, healthy ecosystems, thriving communities, meaningful jobs and profitable and responsible businesses.”
Image courtesy of Camanchaca
