Venezuela’s state security forces have launched an “exhaustive” investigation into a fire that took place 20 April at the Procesadora Antártica shrimp-processing facility belonging to shrimp-farming firm Grupo Lamar.
The fire was an “unusual incident,” according to an official statement released under the joint logos of the Venezuelan government and Grupo Lamar. The losses were solely material, it noted, comprising supplies, machinery, infrastructure, and inventory; no human lives were lost.
The center, located in the western state of Zulia, had been active in the lead-up to the fire and had previously benefited from “a significant financial investment” in preventive and corrective maintenance to the infrastructure, machinery, and production lines at the facility, the statement said.
Grupo Lamar added that it “guarantees” production and labor will continue and that it will recover the damaged infrastructure.
In early December, the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced it was targeting Grupo Lamar owner José Enrique Rincón and his sons Juan Diego and José Enrique in an investigation, claiming they were part of a plot to overthrow his government. It also accused them of terrorism and having links to drug trafficking.
The government subsequently took over Grupo Lamar, Venezuela’s largest shrimp-farming company, as Rincón and his sons fled the nation – joining 7.7 million other Venezuelans who have fled the country since Maduro came to power in 2013.
Grupo Lamar has since been taken over by an administrative board.
The company produced around 45,000 metric tons (MT) of vannamei shrimp in 2022, Grupo Lamar Board Chairman Luis Comella Barboza told SeafoodSource in 2023, and was aiming to increase that to somewhere between 50,000 MT and 60,000 MT in 2023. The company accounts for about 80 percent of Venezuela’s total shrimp exports.
In recent years, according to industry blog Shrimp Insights, Venezuela has been a growing source of shrimp exports to the European Union, especially in countries like Spain and France.
As production becomes less reliable under Maduro’s regime, however, India-based financial news publication MoneyControl speculated that publicly traded Indian shrimp-farming companies have benefited from the instability.
