Record gap between Chilean and Norwegian salmon
He believes it would be very beneficial to promote Chilean fish in the US as well as improve the country's production model, but he maintains his faith in the sector.
The country of origin has never had such a big impact on the US market. "We have a difference of almost two dollars per pound compared to Norwegian salmon, versus 50 cents in the values observed previous to the ISA crisis (in 2008)," said the executive, clarifying that "Norwegians have always sold at higher prices compared to Chileans, but the current gap is two to three times higher than it was at that time".
According to the comments expressed by Fernandez to Salmonexpert, this situation is very worrying. However, he also thinks it is essential to find out the precise volume of Norwegian fish being sold in the US, because it could still be a niche product, before being able to evaluate if this is the result of some campaign to promote Norwegian salmon as antibiotic-free.
In his view, expressed during the most recent meeting of the Global Initiative Salmon in Trondheim, Chile's salmon marketing strategy is not to blame for the poor prices, although he acknowledges that Chilean producers have made few attempts to communicate what the industry do.
"This industry is not to be ashamed but, on the contrary, to be very proud of its achievements and investments. We, who have been for 25 years in the industry, see how it has progressed substantially, faced many of the bottlenecks in terms of sustainability and has been successful. What we need is to communicate better what we do both to consumers and stakeholders in general," he said.
Generic campaign As a way to improve the dialogue with the American audience, the executive is in favour of starting a US campaign similar to the Salmón de Chile initiative in Brazil.
"In the case of Brazil, a very effective promotional campaign has been constructed with very few resources. When it comes to the United States, there has not been enough impetus from either the private sector or ProChile to jump-start an effective campaign there too," he said, while acknowledging that he would undoubtedly participate in a public/private campaign to promote Chilean salmon in the US.
Faith in the industry In the context of an imminent new wave of mergers and purchases of Chilean salmon farming companies, the executive reaffirmed his confidence in the sector and his intention to continue being a part of it. In contrast to those investors with businesses in other industries not linked with the sea, Fernández said "we have been for many years in the fishing industry and have much faith in this business too, notwithstanding that there are many things to improve and we face many challenges".
"As an industry, we have failed to solve the problem of the production model. We have not been able to agree on limiting our production in each area, in order to make our operation more sustainable in Chile. This is a business that started with a production model based on a discretional granting of aquaculture licenses, which generated a productive capacity larger than that of ecosystems, something that has led to occasional crises in the industry. Therefore, we know more or less how much we should produce in each of the neighborhoods in which we operate. Subsequently, we have to reach a model in which production in these neighborhoods is limited, so it's easier to find solutions to problems such as SRS and sea lice."
For these reasons, he does not expect that the Chilean industry will see increases in its production volumes over the next five years, "except in the region of Magallanes, though those will be minor increases," he said, adding that the sector still faces several important challenges such as in markets, to reduce the use of antibiotics and to control the problems posed by parasites, for example.
"The industry has solved them but it has only been possible thanks to intensive treatments and antibiotic usage, and due to good coordination between us, while the market is asking us to seek a new production model," he concluded.
