Chilean salmonid export earnings fall 9.3% in May

Figures from Chile’s Central Bank showed that exports of Atlantic salmon, coho salmon and trout were worth US $338 million, a fall of $35m measured against May last year.

Earnings from salmon (Atlantic and coho) fell by 12.4% from $329m in May 2019 to $288m, while those from trout exports increased from $44m to $50m.

For the first five months of 2020 Chilean salmonid exports were worth $2.09 billion, a fall of 10.6% compared to the $2.338bn earned from January to the end of May 2019.

Food service sector

Francisco Muñoz, economy minister for Los Lagos region, told Fish Farming Expert’s Chilean sister site, Salmonexpert.cl, that the cause of the fall was lower demand in important export markets such as Brazil, the United States and Japan caused by Covid-19.

“What has happened in salmon farming - as in shellfish - is that the main drop in demand is in the food service sector due to a temporary closure of the chains of restaurants, hotels and casinos, and these exports have been reoriented to supermarkets, where there has been an increase in demand compared to previous years, but with a lower price,” explained Muñoz.

Regarding the increase in returns for rainbow trout, Muñoz said: “Other formats are being chosen, rather than whole fish, such as frozen which is a product oriented to the supermarket. 

“Domestically, we have been concerned with maintaining the salmon and mussel culture production chain and, at least domestically, there is no factor affecting the productivity of these sectors.”