AquaChile president Víctor Hugo Puchi is confident the Chilean salmon industry can recover its competitiveness. (Photo: AquaChile/FIS)
Empresas AquaChile intends to increase its current production level and exceeds 150,000 tonnes in 2015 after purchasing Invertec Pesquera Mar de Chiloé (INVERMAR), which was consolidated as the largest salmon farming company in Chile.
The announcement was made by the company president, Victor Hugo Puchi, who stated they are finishing negotiations of capitalization plans for Invermar’s liabilities with banks to take control of it and turn it into a subsidiary of AquaChile.
"Invermar’s specific plan is to once more rescue its historical production volumes when there was financial normality, and that means taking it to around 30,000 tonnes per year," remarked Puchi in statements to the newspaper Estrategia.
For this year, AquaChile plans to produce about 120,000 tonnes in 150 farming centres, and in 2015 further 5,000 tonnes, which added to those of Invermar would involve more than 150,000 tonnes.
On being asked about the criticism voiced by the Japanese company Nissui about the fact that the increase in the concentration in the sector affects the expansion capacity of smaller-scale firms, the executive stated that all companies are limited in growth because they have to respect the new production model. This model states that "it is necessary to allow the centres to recover in a coordinated way and stock when the official window opens because of a sustainability issue that the 100 per cent is not used as before, in times when there was absolute freedom of use".
Furthermore, if there was a negative environmental report, "the concessions involved cannot be used," it added.
With regard to the economic slowdown in Chile and the reforms that the Government seeks to implement, the entrepreneur admitted "there has been a headwind in relation to the desire to invest or not", but he was confident that the industry will regain its competitiveness internationally.
"The consolidation is part of the private solutions to improve it," he pointed out.
He also noted that banks are regaining confidence in the industry thanks to the best biological results and risk control together with expectations of growing demand for salmon in world markets.