Puerto Montt, Chile-based salmon farmer Multiexport Foods saw operating income jump 28.2 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2019 to USD 34.1 million (EUR 30.8 million), thanks in large part to a 37.7 percent boost in sales volume to 21,468 metric tons (MT) WFE.
It wasn’t all gains for the firm, however – a USD 11.3 million (EUR 11.3 million) drop in fair value adjustment to USD 1.77 million (EUR 1.60 million) dragged the company’s net profits down 70.9 percent to USD 5.77 million (EUR 5.21 million), Multiexport said.
The lower fair value adjustment was mainly due to decreased market prices for both Atlantic and coho salmon during the quarter, the company reported in its latest earnings release.
Harvest volume during Q3 increased 49 percent from 2018 to 24,575 MT WFE. Of that total, 1.33 MT was attributed to coho. The rise was due to higher harvest weight, averaging 5.23 kilograms whole fish equivalent (WFE) for Atlantic salmon and 3.07 kilograms WFE for coho, compared to 4.75 kilograms WFE and 3.05 kilograms WFE, respectively, from the same period in 2018.
Operational EBITDA dropped 44.5 percent to USD 10.5 million (EUR 9.49 million), “resulting from the harvest of a site with unfavorable productive results due to the challenging environmental conditions during summer and autumn, which represented almost half of the quarter’s harvests,” Multiexport said.
Together with fellow salmon farmer Blumar, Multiexport launched a joint venture in October that will see a USD 40 million (EUR 36.2 million) processing plant be built in the southern city of Punta Arenas.
In September, Multiexport obtained Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification, making it the first Chilean salmon producer to achieve such a feat after a two-year group audit process. Multiexport is now eligible for BAP four-star status, meaning its products can originate from BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries, and feed mills, according to the Global Aquaculture Alliance, which operates the BAP program.
The company had previously announced it would end its smolt production in fresh-water lakes in the south of Chile by 2020, citing sustainability concerns surrounding these operations.
Logo courtesy of Multiexport
