Farmed salmon. (Photo: Australis Seafoods)

Salmon companies reduce stocking levels

CHILE
Thursday, May 31, 2012, 01:50 (GMT + 9)

Cultivos Marinos Chiloé and Australis Seafoods announced they will reduce their salmon stocking level, a decision that probably relates to the 60 per cent drop in the prices of salmon in the past year.

The decline in prices is due largely to increased world supply of this fish after the recovery in the Chilean industry after the crisis caused by the virus of infectious salmon anemia (ISA), which began to spread in 2007.

Cultivos Marinos Chiloé indicated the firm decreased salmon stocking level by 53.6 per cent, from 378,000 units in March, 2011 to 165,000 units in the same period this year.

In the case of trout, the decline was 15,000 units.

Meanwhile, Camanchaca SA executives anticipated that the changes in futures prices "depend on production policies to a large extent."

Meanwhile, AquaChile reduced its biomass from 33.3 million units of Atlantic salmon at the end of last year to 27.3 million up to 31 March, 2012.

According to analysts of the salmon farming situation, the future evolution of prices "will depend on the growth in the global supply of farmed salmon and trout and of wild specimens and, therefore, to a large extent it will depend on companies’ production policies and on the limitations that can be found due to adverse health and/or production conditions in each producing country," Diario Financiero reported.

So far this year, several companies listed on the Santiago Stock Exchange have seen the price of their shares go down: 17.96 per cent overall.

The biggest drop was experienced by Australis, with 27.16 per cent. Multifoods was ranked next, with 22.73 per cent; it was followed by Invertec Pesquera Mar de Chiloé (Invermar) with 20.13 per cent; and by AquaChile, with 13.99 per cent.

On the other hand, Australis Seafoods informed the Superintendencia de Valores y Seguros (SVS) that the board decided to reduce the original smolt stocking plan for the ongoing year.

The company director, Federico Rodriguez, said the stocking plan will be reduced from 17.5 million units to 12.4 million units, the newspaper El Mercurio reported.

In March 2012, Australis’ revenues went down by 6.4 per cent, reaching USD 45 million, while costs rose more than 60 per cent.

The company recorded loss of USD 2.9 million in the first quarter of this year, compared with a profit of USD 15.8 million in the same period in 2011.

"The difference between both periods is primarily due to the fall in international prices of the three species sold," Australis explained.

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

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