Chilean salmon farmers continue to post heavy losses amid COVID-19 and a USD 3.6/per kilo price for fish.
Salmones Austral has posted its Q3 results dated 30th September.
It posted minus USD 12.9 million in EBIT in Q3 2020, down from USD 10 million the period before. Revenues totaled USD 45.8 million, USD 7.4 million lower than Q3 2019. The salmon farmer said that this was mainly explained by a lower average sales price, which reached just USD 3.63/kg, compared to USD 5.53/Kg the year before.
“Although the price crisis in the industry, as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been deeper and longer than was estimated at the beginning of the year, we have taken advantage of this situation to diversify our markets and sales channels,” said company president Christian Samsing in an accompanying press release.
“This is how the volume of salmon sold in September is 25 per-cent higher than that sold in the same period in 2019.”
Samsing added that “the company has continued with its strategic plan, which includes the construction of a new RAS technology fish farm that includes an investment of USD 36 million, and with the opening of new salmon farming site in the Magallanes region”.
The salmon farmer, which was previously called Pacific Star but is now called Salmones Austral since it merged with Trusal in 2013.
