Chile Atlantic salmon exports up by a third
Export volumes of Atlantic salmon from Chile increased by almost 34% in the two months up to the end of February. Rainbow trout exports, on the other hand, fell by 20%.
The total volume of salmonids (coho, Atlantic and rainbow trout) exported increased by 19% from 114,987 to 136,619 tonnes compared to the same period last year. At the same time, the value increased by just 4%, from $1,002 million to $1,046, according to Chilean statistics agency Infotrade.
Up to the end of February 2018, salmon breeders had exported 79,305 tonnes of Atlantic salmon worth $643m. Compared with the same period in 2017, there was an increase of 10% in value and 34% increase in volume.
The salmon fillet price, however, dropped to $8.11 / kg on average, a decrease of 18% compared with the same period last year when it was $9.91.
27% trout earnings drop
The value of exported rainbow trout in February was $80m, a decline of 27% compared with $111m achieved in the same period last year.
The volume of rainbow trout exported per February was 7,613 tonnes, compared with 9,456 tonnes in the same period in 2017.
The average price was nevertheless higher than for salmon at $10.6 / kg of fillet. However, this was a decrease of 10% compared with the same period last year when it was $ 11.74 per kg of fillet.
Chilean salmon companies exported 49,701 net tonnes of coho salmon in the first two months of this year, an increase of 7.6% compared to 46,196 tonnes shipped in January-February 2017.
The returns for this species reached US $323m, an increase of 6.4% on the $303m in the same period last year.
