Santiago, Chile-based seafood firm Camanchaca has opened a USD 30 million (EUR 28 million) frozen horse mackerel processing plant which it expects will handle about 50 million kilograms of product during its first year of operation.
Camanchaca said the new 700-square-meter plant, built in the city of Coronel in the Chile's Biobío region, incorporated state-of-the-art Norwegian and Japanese technology into its 10 automatic processing lines and seven freezing tunnels, with packing capacity of 650,000 kilos of jack mackerel per day. Its construction took 12 months and its entry into operations meant the hiring of 120 people. The facility allows for direct unloading from five high-seas fishing boats, with the final product to be generated for shipping in a total of approximately 19 hours, which guarantees fish quality and freshness.
In comparison, previously Camanchaca had to procure horse mackerel from third parties. It produced 20 million kilos in 2021 and 30 million kilos in 2020.
“The operation of our new frozen horse mackerel plant in Coronel will optimize the productive processes of our Pesca Sur division, which will now be concentrated in the same commune and oriented entirely to human consumption,” Camanchaca General Manager Ricardo García Holtz said. “With a global seafood demand growing significantly, this leaves us in a robust position from the Biobío [region] to continue feeding markets around the world, such as Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Eastern Europe, and Peru.”
The new facility in Coronel joins the canned horse mackerel, fishmeal, and fish oil production plants that Camanchaca Pesca Sur has in the same city, in addition to the shrimp plant that the fishing division operates in the neighboring town of Tomé.
With more than 50 years in the market, Camanchaca currently exports fish and shellfish to more than 50 countries. Its main business is in the salmon farming sector, under which it operates as Salmones Camanchaca. In Q1, Salmones Camanchaca increased its revenue to USD 80.9 million (EUR 77.7 million), up 16.3 percent compared to Q1 2021, which the company mainly attributed to higher market prices and higher Atlantic salmon sales volume.
Photo courtesy of Camanchaca
