Chilean salmon and trout farmer AquaChile has put the wraps on the USD 21 million (EUR 19.1 million) expansion of its Quellón salmon processing plant, which it says makes the facility the world’s largest and most modern.
The 8,000-square-meter plant has an annual production capacity of 140,000 metric tons (MT), employs some 1,000 workers and will process half of the company’s total production. The world’s next largest such facility, Mowi’s Morpol plant in Poland, has an annual processing capacity of 90,000 MT.
“This is a world-class installation, with cutting-edge technology, automation and production process controls,” AquaChile plant manager Juan Pablo Rodríguez said in a press release. The release also highlighted the plant’s certifications, such as ISO, ASC, BAP, IFS, halal and kosher.
With USD 1.2 billion (EUR 1 billion) in 2018 sales and 188,050 tons of harvested salmon and trout, AquaChile has commercial presence in 40 countries, with more than 350 direct customers. It has 5,515 employees in Chile, 15 freshwater facilities, and 139 farming sites at sea. Its main export destinations are the U.S. (36 percent), Japan (20 percent) and Latin America (12 percent).
The company is Chile’s largest salmon producer and the second largest worldwide, 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.
AquaChile recently published its 2018 Sustainability Report that included all of the operations of the companies acquired.
Photo courtesy of Aquachile
