Chilean fishing and aquaculture group Pesquera Camanchaca reported a fall in earnings in the second quarter of the year driven by lower sales of wild pelagic products and salmon.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 55.6 percent year-on-year to $18.3 million (€16.7 million), while sales fell 25.8 percent to $139.3 million (€127 million).

The company is engaged in three core businesses, wild catch of anchovy, mackerel and horse mackerel in the north and the south of the country for direct and indirect human consumption, the production of mussels, and the production of salmon through its subsidiary Salmones Camanchaca.

During the first half of the year, the group reported a fall of 42.4 percent in EBITDA, to $31.9 million (€29.1 million), and a fall of 16.9 percent in sales, to $270 million (€246.2 million).

The lower results are explained by lower volumes of pelagic fish and salmon.

In wild catch, the group landed 135,339 metric tons of fish in the south and the north, down from 164,046 metric tons, and obtained an average price for fishmeal of $1,493 (€1,361) per metric ton, down 6.7 percent year-on-year.

In total, fishing sales amounted to $76.9 million (€70.1 million) over the first half, down 17.4 percent compared with the same period last year. EBITDA fell 60.3 percent, to $8.9 million (€8.1 million).

In the salmon division, it harvested 7,136 metric tons, down 35.9 percent year-on-year.

In salmon, sales fell 17.5 percent, to $178.5 million (€162.8 million), while EBITDA fell 34.2 percent, to $22.3 million (€20.3 million).