Algal blooms slash earnings by 76% at Camanchaca group
Higher fishmeal prices, good pelagic catches and a strongly performing mussels division helped mitigate results in the first six months of 2021.
Pesquera Camanchaca group's first half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) slid as the company's salmon farming division sustained heavy losses brought on by algae blooms and low water oxygen levels.
EBITDA came in at $9.4 million (€7.9 million), down 76 percent from the $38.8 million (€32.7 million) posted a year earlier.
Group revenues, meanwhile, rose 6 percent to $312.2 million (€263.5 million).
The company's salmon farming, fisheries and mussel producing divisions all recorded higher revenues but the Chilean firm's salmon producing arm swung to $15.7 million (€13.5 million) negative EBITDA from $11.5 million (€9.7 million) in the same period of 2020 after being hit by costs relating to mass mortalities caused by harmful algal blooms at several of the group's farms.
In the opening six months of the year, Camanchaca harvested 15,585 metric tons of Atlantic salmon, down from 23,812 metric tons a year earlier.
Salmon farmers are poised to benefit from higher prices in the coming months with Chilean production expected to fall because fewer fish were placed in growout netpens at the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Camanchaca's fishing division also struggled in the first half, though lower fishmeal prices were offset by a 15 percent increase in fishmeal sales, following a good season for horse mackerel and sardines.
Earnings and revenues from Camanchaca's mussels producing arm benefited from sharp increases in production volumes and sales.