The chilean salmon industry has developed rapidly in the past decade, but it is also facing many challenges, and how to overcome these difficulties is a major concern for the chilean and global salmon industry.
Chile is the world's second largest producer of salmon, and salmon is one of the world-renowned "three treasures" of Chilean aquatic products. Under the configuration and nurturing of the cold Antarctic waters in the southern seas, the salmon has been of first-class quality and quality taste.
Salmon farming began in Chile in 1974, but large-scale aquaculture production did not take place until the early 1990s. In other words, it's a young industry, and its rapid growth inevitably brings problems.
As a result, Chilean salmon has fluctuated a lot in recent years and has not been calm, and its industry has either been unusually strong or has suffered worrying conditions. First of all, Yi Ge took everyone to sort out the events that have shocked the industry in recent years.
In 2007, an outbreak of infectious salmon anemia in Chile redefined the enormous harm of the disease to the salmon industry. The aftermath of the outbreak lasted for more than two years and is estimated to cost chile's salmon industry between $1 billion and $2 billion.
In 2015, Chile's Kabuco volcano erupted, causing huge damage to some areas of the country's salmon farming.
In 2016, chile erupted in an algae crisis, with an estimated loss of 100,000 tonnes of production, accounting for 17% of the country's projected production and 7% of global production.
In 2019, we are witnessing another crisis unfolding in the world's second largest salmon farming country. Weeks of civil unrest have disrupted supply chains for products shipped from Chile to major markets in the United States and elsewhere. Workers and service providers are barred from entering processing plants and collection centers, making the fish impossible to process. It is estimated that about 800,000 fish are awaiting processing at the Salmon Processing Centre on The Island of Quilo in southern Chile, which could be as high as €30 million (€26.9 million) in terms of average size and current prices.
In recent years, the Chilean salmon industry has had many twists and turns, but it has a large number of stable international customers. Because these buyers can't abandon Chilean supply and switch to other supplier countries, no matter how much purchase volume is transferred to Norway, the Faroe Islands, Canada or Scotland, it seems that no other country can independently fill the gap from Chile.
Every honing is accompanied by a summary and rebirth
In response to the recent riots, the Chilean government responded urgently, and the latest news said that the current blockade of Chile's important salmon supply line was lifted.
In response to anemia of seaweed and salmon, new regulations have been set for improving technology
Rising water temperatures and open cages are among the main causes of disease outbreaks in salmon farming in recent years.
First of all, deeper cages are used in farming technology to ensure the water temperature of the farming environment and avoid oxygen to reduce disease transmission. Deeper cages, ventilation systems, keeping the water oxygenated, keeping the fish cool are the ways to ensure that the salmon farming system works well.
Today, Chile's aquaculture technology is constantly improving and integrating, and it is now ripe to master all the elements of production: from seedlings (hatcheries) to delicious dishes on the table, everything meets the needs of the international market. Salmon will be moved from hatcheries to remote marine bases.
Secondly, in the regulatory system, the unit stocking density of aquaculture enterprises is limited.
The government has proposed an option called the Reduced Sowing Scheme (PRS), which allows companies to authorize a farming density of up to 17.5 kg per square meter based on the health status of the farm in exchange for restrictions on new sites and supplies, and most companies insist that PRS bring stability to the industry.
As a business, you can only scale up if you meet your health goals. The maximum expansion allowed per cycle is 3%, and when illness or death occurs, the company must reduce production.
The Chilean Fisheries Department has published the Aquaculture Law (Amendment), which includes the reduction of hatchery spacing, the strengthening of monitoring of production forecasts and the strict reporting of death cases, while the Chilean government encourages small- and medium-scale farming models and establishes a red tide warning mechanism, which will greatly help to improve the environment and efficiency of salmon farming.
In terms of development strategy, more attention is paid to the concentration of industries and the expansion of emerging markets
In late January 2019, after obtaining regulatory approval to acquire empresas aquachile, Chilean agrosuper will begin buying shares from minority shareholders to achieve 100% control over it.
After the merger, the production strength of agrosuper salmon is doubled, and it is expected that the production of agrosuper salmon will exceed 200,000 tons in 2018, and it is also reported that the new fry has been put into the farm, and its output will reach 220,000-230,000 tons in two years, which is expected to create the world's second largest salmon production enterprise after Norway's mowi (former cultivated sea).
On June 28, 2019, Joyvo Shares, a listed company under the Agricultural Sector of China's Legend Holdings, and the Silk Road Fund formally issued a public offer (opa) to all shareholders of Australia Seafoods S.A., a leading salmon company in Chile. On July 2, the consortium successfully acquired 95.26% of the shares held by the major shareholders of the target company, and the project was successfully completed.
Through the integration of transnational resources in the salmon industry, this cross-border merger and acquisition has formed value growth and appreciation, and also stems from the urgent need for China's food consumption upgrading.
In addition to integrating resources, Chile's salmon industry is also paying more attention to the development and expansion of China's consumer market with great development potential.
On October 1, 2006, the bilateral free trade agreement between China and Chile came into force, and the zero tariff between the two countries traded with each other, on the basis of which chilean salmon began to be exported to China in large quantities by virtue of its aquaculture advantages, and after 2014, Chilean chilled salmon gradually appeared in the Chinese market, and its proportion was expanding.
According to data from the Chilean fisheries and aquaculture sector, its seafood exports also continued to grow by 16% per year from 2012 to 2016. In 2017, China was Chile's fourth largest consumer market after the United States, Japan and Brazil, accounting for 7.5%. In the first half of 2018, Chile exported 452,000 tons of salmon, an increase of 25% year-on-year, with a total export value of US$2.611 billion. Among them, the Chinese and Russian markets saw the largest increases, with growth of 100% and 87% respectively.
"A hundred refinements will eventually become steel", and every "disaster" experienced needs to be actively coped with and experienced to develop better. It is believed that after several trials, Chile, together with Norway, has become a model for global salmon farming, providing the world with a more stable price and supply of better quality salmon.