But CEO Andres Lyon is not expecting high volume growth in Chile this year.
Chilean Multiexport harvested 95,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon and coho last year. Listed on the Santiago Stock Exchange, it’s the third-largest salmon farmer in the country.
“This year we will go over 100,000 tonnes, more specifically 102,000 tonnes,” Lyon said.
The company has two processing plants, one of which is operated together with Blumar, for a total of 150,000 tonnes of salmon. Multiexport is the leading smoked salmon producer in the country, fronted by the “Latitude” brand.
Its main market is the United States, with 40 per cent of sales, then Brazil, which takes away 20 per cent – primarily head-on salmon. That’s followed by China, where seven per cent of the company sales go through its own offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
“We have delivered EBITDA of more than USD 100 million in both of the last two years,” Lyon reported at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum in Bergen, Norway, at an assembly consisting essentially of banks, investment banks and investors.
Recently, Multiexport landed a USD 150 million financing package from a syndicate consisting of DNB, Rabobank and the Chilean bank BCI.
Chile’s overall aquaculture industry has grown a lot since the extensive biological problems that hit the country a decade ago. A total of 977,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon, coho and trout were harvested last year.
However, this year’s high volume growth is not expected.
Last year, the exposure in the sea was reduced, to 240 million smolts, from 250 million the year before, Lyon pointed out.
Ragnar Nystøyl from analyses company Kontali Analyse said yesterday that he estimated four per cent volume growth (for Atlantic salmon) in Chile this year.
