Salmon farmers move into Chile’s top 20 as prices rise
Chilean salmon farmers Multiexport Foods and Blumar were among the 20 publicly listed companies whose share prices increased the most in December, signalling a recovery in the country’s salmon sector.
Multiexport Foods (up 11.79%) was ninth and Blumar (up 8.90%) 15th on the monthly league table issued by the Santiago Stock Exchange.
Multiexport chief executive Andrés Lyon told Fish Farming Expert’s Chilean sister site, Salmonexpert.cl: “The share price is driven by expectations and realities, and at this moment, both the expectations of salmon prices for 2021, as well as the evolution of these during December 2020, are heading on a very positive path.”
He added: “I believe that both situations indicated above, together with the level of operation of the company, are the main ones to understand the evolution of the share price in recent weeks.”
Prices up by 50%
Lyon said the world supply of salmon will have a very limited growth of less than 2% in 2021. “The (food market publisher) Urner Barry value of fresh fillet in the main market for Chilean salmon, the US, has recovered to more normal levels, having risen more than 50% in the last six weeks,” he explained.
Multiexport managed to double its sales of smoked Atlantic salmon to the US after the Covid-19 pandemic decimated demand from the food service sector and hammered prices for Chilean fish.
The company’s operating income fell by 21% to US $106 million in the third quarter of 2020 because of a 21.5% drop in market prices, which averaged $3.87 per pound (fillet) in the quarter.
During the period the company was able to increase the proportion of smoked salmon exported to 10% of the total volume, compared to 5% in the same period of 2019.
Carbon footprint
Meanwhile, Blumar’s financial position was recently strengthened by a rescheduled and extended finance deal with Rabobank, BCI, Santander Chile, Security and DNB Bank. The loan is tied to Blumar’s commitment to becoming a more environmentally friendly producer.
Chief executive Gerardo Balbontín said: “This financing is linked to a commitment to improve sustainability parameters, in particular in environmental matters, such as reducing the carbon footprint, a decrease in the use of antibiotics, an increase in Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification of farms, an increase in the use of renewable energy, among other aspects, where objectives must be met within the term of the seven-year loan.”
