Strike incurrs $40 million in losses
So far, close to 6,000 tonnes of frozen salmon and about 5,000 tonnes of fresh salmon have not been able to be exported.
In turn, the customs officers union requests for an increase in their number of workers. They claim that Chile is one of the ten countries with the least customs officers per capita in the world. They claim they need at least 3,000 workers by the year 2020 (Chile has a population of about 17.6 million people).
Different guilds and associations of exporters, including SalmonChile, back the customs officers’ argument (they do need more workers), although they are unhappy with the current stand-off for obvious reasons.
The chairman of the Association of the Chilean Salmon Industry (SalmonChile), Felipe Sandoval, said that "equally important as financial losses, is the crisis of confidence and image we are experiencing today. The positioning built in recent years, is severely damaged."
Furthermore, the strike is also exposing producers to another risk: "The salmon industry cannot stop its production because a halt could have have serious consequences on sanitary and environmental aspects. In addition to non-compliance of different rules the next generations of fish are being put at risk," Sandoval said.
