Grupo Calvo invested USD 2 million in new tuna processing facilities in La Union. (Photo: Calvo/Stock File)

Calvo undertakes major expansion efforts

EL SALVADOR
Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 23:10 (GMT + 9)

Grupo Calvo inaugurated new production lines yesterday in La Union Port, a project backed by a USD 2 million investment. Its new industrial enterprise, spanning 2,000 sqm, has the capacity to process up to 4,000 tonnes of a variety of products.

The factory has incorporated new machinery to process and can tuna loins, which will allow the company to increase its local supply as well as shipments to the European Union (EU), Central America, Brazil and Taiwan.

In total, Calvo has already invested around USD 140 million and will employ 1,500 fixed workers from La Union and adjacent municipalities.

At this time, it processes some 35,000 tonnes of tuna loins and high quality canned products in El Salvador, and that total will increase substantially thanks to the new investment.

In 2008, Calvo exported products from El Salvador worth USD 106 million, that is, 9.4 per cent more than in 2007, when it generated USD 96 million. In 2006 it exported USD 70 million worth of product, a figure 25 per cent lower than that registered in 2007, the company disclosed in Estrategia & Negocios.

Calvo set up in Punta Gorda, La Union, in September 2003, and carried out its first facility expansion in January 2006, once the packing plant became operational.

In April 2007, it initiated the exports of its packaged products in tins, glass bottles and bags, to Europe, specifically to Italy and Spain.

Meanwhile, the company exports tuna loins in olive oil, vegetable oil, and water; and tuna chunks in vegetable oil, water, with corn, vegetables; and tuna salad with mayonnaise.

The president of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, who participated in the inauguration ceremony of the new facilities, emphasised that the investment made in the port zone of La Union is the region’s most important.

“We are before an opportunity to generate economic growth and, at the same time, to turn El Salvador into the Central American leader,” Funes indicated.

“In my government, they will find a strategic partner that offers them support to continue working on enlarging this industry,” he continued.

Finally, Funes thanked Grupo Calvo for having deposited its trust in the country and for having created hundreds of jobs.

Manuel Calvo, delegated advisor of the Group, emphasised that the creation of jobs is a corporate goal that has been obtained with much efficiency in La Union, where manpower is of good quality.

However, he pointed out that the Salvadoran plant “is in certain danger” because it has “certain problems” with the EU regarding the fulfillment of sanitary and origin norms.

Although he said that his intention is not “to scandalise,” he clarified that the certification of rules of origin before the EU prevents them from buying tuna from fleets that are not Spanish or Salvadoran, which causes a drop in fishing and a consequent loss in production.

“Indeed, the Administration that must watch over European investments overseas and protect them is the greatest threat that we have had to withstand over many years,” Calvo added.

The production in El Salvador could arrive at 40,000 tonnes of tuna this year, which will represent a loss of 2,000 - 3,000 tonnes compared with 2008, the executive estimates.

Finally, he mentioned the “enormous difficulties, ever greater, in [fulfilling] the rules of origin that allow us to be able to buy that fish, to export it to Europe tariff-free” as a main cause of the drop, EFE reports.

Related article:

- Calvo Group fears for future of its ops

By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com