Outlook 2017: Camanchaca CEO Ricardo Garcia
'We will see the positioning of Chilean salmon raised without antibiotics in US markets,' exec tells IntraFish.
It has been yet another year of unexpected conditions for Chilean salmon producers, but far from collapsing, the industry sees new opportunities on the need to readjust to the new situation.
These oceanographic phenomenon are common in Chile, but were aggravated this year by the presence of El Nino in the Pacific Ocean.
This raised the specter of the negative impacts of salmon farming and its lack of consideration for local communities.
This -- together with a fall of Chilean salmon supply and an almost non-existent growth in Norwegian salmon production -- contributed to a significant increase in salmon prices, alleviating the financial situation of salmon companies.
There will be a shortage of salmon because the main producers have a very limited supply, and biological conditions will not allow them to increase production at the same rate demand is growing. We foresee an additional increase in prices.
Warmer sea water temperatures could be something more permanent and not only associated to El Nino. This would bring a new risk focus and would also open new opportunities for salmon farming.
There will be a higher demand of value-added and ready-to-eat production that will require more effort from producers who are used to sell a commodity product.
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