Chile’s largest salmon-farming firm, AquaChile, saw “robust demand” coupled with limited supply during the third quarter of 2022, as salmon prices remained strong and higher than historical averages in the farmer’s key markets of the United States, Brazil, and Japan.
AquaChile is Chile’s largest salmon producer, resulting from a 2018 sector consolidation that brought a number of actors – AquaChile, Los Fiordos, Salmones Magallanes, and Friosur salmon area assets – under the same umbrella.
“The aquaculture segment should maintain attractive prices in the coming months, as the current balance between supply and demand volumes is expected to continue,” animal protein farmer Agrosuper – AquaChile’s parent company – said during its Q3 earnings presentation.
In Q3, AquaChile exported 34,400 metric tons (MT) of fish, 14.3 percent higher compared to the same quarter of 2021. Of that total, 32,300 MT of salmon was exported and 2,100 MT sold to the domestic market.
During the quarter, revenue from aquaculture of Atlantic salmon and coho salmon represented 32 percent of Agrosuper’s total USD 1.08 billion (EUR 1.03 billion) revenues and 49 percent of its USD 651 million (EUR 618 million) in exports.
Agrosuper’s aquaculture sector recorded USD 340 million (EUR 323 million) in revenue in Q3 2022, up 24.5 percent from USD 273 million (EUR 259 million) in the same quarter of 2021. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in Q3 increased 59.3 percent to USD 77 million (EUR 73 million), while net its income before fair value adjustments surged 301 percent to USD 41 million (EUR 39 million)
Primarily in regard to its meat production, Agrosuper said grain prices started to decline slightly from Q2 2022 as supply and demand approached equilibrium. Freight rates also began to decrease a bit from early Q3 as the supply chain began to normalize, it said.
For the first nine months of the year, Agrosuper’s aquaculture segment obtained an accumulated EBITDA (pre fair value) margin at the end of September 2022 of 23.2 percent, in contrast to the 8.8 percent obtained in the same period of 2021. Agrosuper said this was thanks to the “correct implementation of the commercial strategy, together with the increase in international prices.”
From January through September, its aquaculture segment revenue reached USD 1.1 billion (EUR 1 billion), up 23 percent compared to the USD 892 million (EUR 847 million) it over the same period in 2021. Its sales cost total was relatively flat at USD 737 million (EUR 700 million), but its net profit fell 63 percent to USD 44.9 million (EUR 42.6 million) from USD 123 million (EUR 117 million) due to a USD 125 million (EUR 119 million) hit in fair value.
Photo courtesy of AquaChile
