The amount of farmed salmon that Chile exported during the first quarter of 2022 reached a total similar to its pre-pandemic levels, and is evidence of the sector’s recovery amid soaring global demand, according to Chile’s Salmon Council.
The Chilean Salmon Council is an association that brings together the companies AquaChile, Australis, Cermaq, Mowi, and Salmones Aysén, which together represent more than half of Chilean salmon production by volume. Salmon Council Executive Director Joanna Davidovich said Chile was moving past the worst of the COVID-19 crisis and was enjoying the rewards of rising demand for salmon globally.
“This high dynamism in exports reflects solid world demand for Chilean salmon and contributes to boosting economic activity, employment, and the entire chain of suppliers of goods and services as well as enterprises associated with this activity in the southern macro zone of Chile,” Davidovich said in a press release. “Salmon farming continues to be a driver of progress and opportunities in aquaculture regions.”
Shipments of salmon and trout originating from Chile totaled USD 1.68 billion (EUR 1.55 billion) in Q1 2022, surging 27.5 percent from the same period one year ago, according to the council’s “Quarterly Salmon Export Report,” which used information from Chile’s Central Bank and the National Customs Service. However, in volume terms, shipments were down 7.8 percent in the first three months of 2022 due to lower harvests recorded in the last months of 2021, in turn owing to lower smolt stockings in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic.
During the first quarter of the year, the United States, Japan, and Brazil were Chile’s top three export destinations, accounting for 75.7 percent of Chile’s salmon exports by value. Sales to the U.S. ramped up by 40.5 percent and sales to Brazil increased 53.1 percent over the same quarter of the previous year, due to higher prices.
Atlantic salmon was the primary salmon species exported from Chile, comprising 68 percent of the total by value, and the council said 53 percent of Chile’s salmon exports were frozen. The main departure point during the first quarter of 2022 was the port of Coronel (38 percent of total volume) followed by Santiago’s Arturo Merino Benítez Airport (22 percent), and the port of San Vicente (17 percent).
Davidovich said the outlook for Chile’s farmed salmon industry remains positive for 2022, but that the evolution of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine were issues being monitored by the council as being issues with a disruptive force in the marketplace.
Photo courtesy of Cermaq
