13% more Atlantic salmon exported overall in 2018.
Aqua.cl reports that IndexSalmon’s numbers corresponding to January-December 2018 salmon (Atlantic and coho) and rainbow trout numbers show an increase in exports overall. From 523,038 tonnes to 2017 to 631,687 tonnes at the end of last year, a jump of 20.8%.
It was China that saw the biggest increase in exports with a whopping 58.1% jump (39.1 thousand tonnes) representing a 44.8% hike in returns (USD 262.3 million).
But there were large increases all around, 13% more Atlantic salmon was exported overall in 2018. The United States is still by far Chile’s biggest customer. Exports grew by 22.4% in 2018 (162 thousand tonnes) and that market was worth USD 1.72 billion (+13.4%). This was followed by Brazil with 89.5 thousand tonnes, an 11,1% increase in quantity from the year before, worth USD 573.8 million (+ 2.7%). Exports to Russia grew by 52,0%.
“Thus, for 2018, exports, in tonnes, of Atlantic salmon reached a share of 92.1%, presenting an increase of 7.1 percentage points compared to the participation of this species during 2017. In this way, Atlantic salmon remains the main species in the Chinese market,” said IndexSalmon, adding that the main salmon exporter to China was Los Fiordos followed by Cermaq Chile and then Multiexport. However, Cermaq and Aquachile are the biggest exporters overall.
Chile’s 2018’s export value grew 13.8% compared from USD 3.39 billion in 2017 to USD 3.86 billion in 2018. This was despite a 7.9% drop in the price of salmon, from USD 9.20/kg to USD 8.48/kg.
