As Cermaq enlarges its footprint in Chile, it is stepping onto a path that is more risky and perhaps less profitable than the one it was on before, analysts told IntraFish.
“The thing is, Cermaq has increased its exposure in Chile,” Felix Heinrich, analyst for Pareto Securities, told IntraFish. “We think the margins in Chile will lack the growth of the margins of the Norwegian farmers in a difficult period.”
The acquisition gives Cermaq 32,000 more metric tons capacity per year, increasing its total salmon farming production capacity to 180,000 metric tons, but with that increase comes the company’s debt as well as the risk of operating in Chile, a country where sanitation regulations enforcement is struggling to keep up with growth.
