Puchi: "I prefer Chile producing 600 000 tonnes than 1 million"
Mr Puchi said "I prefer Chile with 600 000 tonnes that we can handle well and in a safe way than with 750 000 or 1 million tonnes that might be a higher risk. Besides, we should have the chance of increase our production as long as we show that the new production model works. This is the safer way to produce and it would demonstrate that we have learned from the crisis."
According to the Chilean newspaper La Tercera, Mr Puchi also believes that the Chilean salmon industry should be composed by shorter number of players. Currently, there are 29 companies producing salmon in Chile while he thinks that "if there were just 6 or 7 company groups that would be an enormous progress. The path to follow is to join forces and work together." In that sense, he added that this is not the best time for acquisitions. Instead, he considers that mergers are the solution.
Regarding prices and in comparison to the Norwegian salmon, Mr Puchi commented that Chileans are selling at a lower price. He said that "to a certain degree, we have some commercial clutter, because when you sell in a hurry, you sale at a bad price in any given business".
Today, the focus of Empresas AquaChile is not set on producing the same volume levels they had prior to the ISA crisis (around 110 000 tonnes per year). "More than about the volume, we are concerned about doing things right," he said. "We have confidence on our recovery, the price of the Chilean salmon will tend to rise, approaching the price of Norwegian salmon, and the price of salmon in the whole world," he concluded.
