Short recovery and later downfall in production again

According to the general manager of SalmonChile (association that represents close to 80% of the Chilean salmon production) Carlos Odebret the next harvest season of Coho salmon and Rainbow trout -between October 2009 and March 2010- "will contribute to decrease the 10% unemployment rate exhibit in the area" representing a recovery of close to 3,000 jobs. In productive terms, the production of salmonids is expected to be close to 450,000 gross tons this year.

Nevertheless, Odebret forewarn that 2010 is going to be tougher with an expected production of 300,000-350,000 gross tons. "We estimate that the number of direct jobs within the industry will be around 9,000 or 10,000 the next year" he said. By contrast, in 2007 the sector employed near to 30,000 workers and close to 18,000 this year.

Finally, he added that the supplier companies are also having hard times due to the complex access to working capital and their current small workload. Odebret believes that 7,000 jobs have been lost among the suppliers.