Salmones Camanchaca closed the second quarter of 2023 with net losses as the company took action to reduce environmental risks in its grow-out centers while temporarily halting operations at its main processing plant.
The vertically integrated salmon-farming firm, based in Santiago, Chile, reported its Q2 revenues fell to USD 63.4 million (EUR 58.3 million), 34.9 percent lower than Q2 2022, which the company attributed to a scheduled drop in its harvest plan together with the stoppage at its main processing plant.
“The results obtained in the second quarter are clearly weak, but they are partially a reflection of strategic decisions taken to reduce environmental risks in fjords of the [Los Lagos] region, increasing stockings farther south, as well as improvements and maintenance in the processing plant that was closed for half of the quarter,” Salmones Camanchaca Vice President Ricardo García Holtz said in a release. “All this led to an extraordinary and nonrecurring decrease in the harvested, processed, and sold volumes.”
Like other Chilean salmon farmers, Camanchaca is moving its operations farther south down the country's coast, where the waters are colder and less susceptible to algae blooms and disease outbreaks, such as sea lice.
Camanchaca's cost of sales during the quarter were brought down 18.6 percent year over year in the second quarter to USD 58.5 million (EUR 53.8 million), while administration and sales costs increased 20.7 percent to USD 5.3 million (EUR 4.9 million). Costs combined with revenues brought its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) before fair value to USD 4.26 million (EUR 3.92 million) – an 83.4 percent plunge from the second quarter of 2022.
For the quarter, net losses reached USD 1.9 million (EUR 1.7 million), a stark difference from the net profit of USD 16.9 million (EUR 15.5 million) the company turned in the second quarter last year.
The company harvested 6,423 metric tons (MT) whole-fish equivalent (WFE) of Atlantic salmon in the second quarter, a 48.4 percent drop compared to the same period in 2022, stemming from the decision to move stocks to the Aysén region.
The company reported no harvests of coho salmon during the quarter. However, for the first six months of the year, its harvests of coho salmon jumped to 2,491 MT WFE, up 275 percent when compared to the first half of 2022. Inversely, its Atlantic salmon harvests decreased 14.8 percent to 17,512 MT WFE – reflecting Camanchaca’s stated goal of expanding its focus on coho to diversify its offerings and lower risk. With its coho stockings to date, the company said it expects to double harvests in the 2023-2024 season compared to the 5,856 MT hauled in during the 2022-2023 season.
Salmones Camanchaca plans to perform the bulk of its annual harvest in the second half of 2023, according to García Holtz.
“For the second half [of the year], we plan to harvest more than two-thirds of the annual volume, which we estimate will be slightly higher in the range of 56,000 MT to 60,000 MT, of which close to 80 percent will be Atlantic salmon,” he said.
The company provided a breakdown of its projected harvest, saying its annual Atlantic salmon harvest will come in at 45,000 MT to 47,000 MT WFE, and its coho harvest will total 11,000 MT to 13,000 MT WFE.
For the first six months of the year, topline revenues and EBITDA before fair-value adjustment remained relatively flat at USD 177 million (EUR 163 million) and USD 29.7 million (EUR 27.3 million), respectively. Due largely to a hit in fair value, net profits for the first half fell 67.4 percent to USD 6.03 million (EUR 5.55 million).
In July, the company submitted a new project to Chile’s Environmental Evaluation Service for evaluation. Salmones Camanchaca has proposed expanding its existing frozen products manufacturing plant, located in the San José sector of the southern city of Calbuco. With a price tag set at USD 70 million (EUR 64.4 million), the project would enable the processing of 254 MT per day in the production of fillets, whole product, and byproducts.
Currently, the San José plant covers 3,370 square meters, and the expansion project would increase the area by 828 square meters. Camanchaca has proposed beginning construction in May 2024.
Photo courtesy of Salmones Camanchaca
