Fishmeal and fish oil producer Copeinca suffered a predictable loss in operating profits due to dropping Peruvian quotas, but new figures from the company show higher-than-usual inventory and rising prices took the sting out of what could have been a rougher year for the company.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) revenues for 2012 stood at USD 104 million (EUR 77.1 million), a drop of USD 2 million (EUR 1.5 million) compared to last year’s numbers. The company blamed much of the losses on a 43 percent drop in Peruvian quotas in 2012, to 3.5 million metric tons (MT) compared to 2011.
“It was a challenging year due to the significant reduction of volume and operational difficulties, which was partly compensated by the atypical higher inventories at the beginning of the year (sold during the first quarter), and by a significant increase on prices for both fishmeal and fish oil,” the company said in a statement. “This is why, overall, our year end results are only slightly lower than projected.”
The company caught 11,900 MT of mackerel and jack mackerel were caught during 2012, about 10 percent of the quota allocated by Peruvian authorities.
Despite the operating profit drop, revenues were up, rising to USD 314 million (EUR 232.9 million) compared to USD 254 million (EUR 188.4 million) in 2011.
