Puerto Montt, Chile-based Multi X is planning to launch the Arka super-premium brand of smoked salmon, making the product available to premium U.S. grocery retailers during the second quarter of 2023.
The Arka brand, a name that means “heaven” in the native Kawésqar dialect, will market salmon that are antibiotic-free, Aquaculture Stewardship Council-certified, and Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) 4 Star-certified.
The move comprises part of the company’s market segmentation campaign to complement its existing BAP-certified Latitude 45 premium smoked salmon, available since 2017 in U.S. mass retailers, club stores, and mainstream grocery stores. The campaign will also include the launch of the My Salmon standard smoked salmon, which will be available to discount stores during the second half of 2023, Multi X Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Fernando Pérez said during a trade mission visit from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.-based retailer Giant Eagle.
The Arka brand, launched in 2021, commenced sales of fresh and frozen salmon products under the brand from that date. Multi X will now focus the brand specifically on the smoked product, Pérez told SeafoodSource.
Meanwhile, Latitude 45 will continue to offer affordable premium value, with fresh-smoked fish within 24 hours. The message will feature prominently in its new, updated packaging, responding to results from focus group studies that identified criteria most important to consumers, including more sustainable packaging. Pérez said that the brand is one of the most-recognized smoked salmon brands in the U.S., with more than 300,000 shoppers logging in each month on its Pinterest page looking for recipes. The brand expects to reach over 200 million consumers across the U.S. this year.
During the meeting, Pérez also highlighted a 50-50 joint venture with Sealand Aquaculture for the construction of a post-smolt recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility, dubbed Multisea. Built in the Pargua sector in the Los Lagos region, the facility has a production capacity of 2,000 MT a year, equivalent to 6.5 million smolt between 170 and 500 grams.
Under the partnership, Pérez said that Multi X is benefitting from the expertise of Sealand Aquaculture – currently Multi X’s largest smolt supplier – on managing RAS systems with the goal of producing higher smolt weights of 500 grams to 1 kilogram before transportation to pens in the sea. This produces a more-robust smolt to decrease risks, such as diseases, sea lice, and other threats, associated with the seawater stage of production.
With continuing partnerships and growth, Multi X now has over 2,500 employees and operates 44 farms in southern Chile, boasting 97,800 metric tons (MT) whole fish equivalent (WFE) of harvest volume and 101,200 MT of processed volume. It is the number one producer of smoked salmon in Chile, the second largest producer of Atlantic salmon in Chile, the third-largest salmon producer in Chile, and is within the top six largest producers of Atlantic salmon worldwide.
It ships more than 900,000 servings of salmon a day to more than 30 countries around the world, and its three processing plants have an installed capacity of 147,000 MT WFE a year. North America receives the majority of its exports, responsible for 58 percent of the total, followed by South America at 26 percent, and Asia at 13 percent. Europe comprises just 3 percent of Multi X’s exports.
Multi X also recently launched a new salmon product that is certified carbon-neutral, claiming the frozen D-trim fillets are the first certified carbon-neutral Chilean salmon available in the U.S. market.
The company, formerly known as Multiexport, claims to be the only salmon producer in the world to receive a ranking in both the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index, which evaluate environmental, social, and governance performance, sustainability practices, and risk factors. It has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, zero waste to landfills in all of its operations by 2025, and an additional 60 percent reduction in antibiotic use by 2025. Currently, all of its productive facilities are operating under BAP standards, and one-third of its facilities are under ASC standards. More than 25 percent of its production uses no antibiotics.
In June 2022, it teamed with BioMar and Food 4 the Future to pilot Chile’s first feeding plant, incorporating products made from insect protein instead of fishmeal. In April of that year, Multi X shareholders approved agricultural giant Cargill’s 24.5 percent purchase of the company. Mitsui, which had been a Multi X shareholder since 2015, increased its shareholding in Multi X by 1.13 percent to also reach 24.5 percent ownership. Multiexport Foods kept control of the company, with 51 percent of total shares.
Photo courtesy of Multi X
