Gálmez brothers put their chips on salmon

Kate Casey José Miguel Gálmez (pictured) along with his brothers Juan Antonio and Luis Antonio have a long track record as an effective business team, having bought, improved and sold very successful companies in Chile (for example, the department store chain Almacenes París). In 2006 they bought 80% of the young salmon company Acuimag, with the ambition of transforming it into the principal export company of the Magallanes Region (Region XII) within five years. Perhaps they figure they can improve on the feat of Pesca Chile, the Spanish company that was the first to invest in salt-water production sites in Magallanes over five years ago. Bold business moves like these will certainly continue throughout Chile’s last frontier as the salmon industry forges ahead. According to an interview with the newspaper Estrategia, Gálmez states that he expects Acuimag to produce 30 thousand tons by 2011. “We are very optimistic. We’ve invested in the newest processing technologies that should make our plant more efficient and improve our current production level.” With respect to any concerns over the dropping market price he adds, “The salmon sector shouldn’t face much difficulty – products of quality always outrank the rest, so what we hope for in terms of sales will be good regardless.”