Chilean salmon prices are rising against normal seasonal trends as weakening biomass growth starts to slow supply expansion, according to Arctic Securities.
The investment bank said Chilean salmon delivered to Miami recently reached USD 6.85/lb for D-trim, the highest level since January 2024, despite prices typically weakening at this time of year.
Arctic Securities said the recent price strength suggests Chilean supply growth is “likely quite negative” in May and that demand “might be on the rise”.
New Chilean biomass data showed the number of fish in sea fell 1.8% year-on-year at the end of April. Kontali estimates biomass was down around 2.5% at the end of both March and April, according to Arctic Securities.
The bank said weaker biomass growth had already started to feed through into harvest volumes. Chilean harvest growth slowed to 3% year-on-year in April from 15.7% year-to-date growth.
Harvest weights were marginally lower at 5.01kg versus 5.08kg a year earlier, while monthly mortality improved to 0.78% from 0.96%. Smolt stocking year-to-date was up 1.2% year-on-year.