Chilean salmon farmer Salmones Camanchaca saw its 2022 Q1 revenues rise 16.3 percent to $80.9 million, compared with the same period in 2021, as high salmon prices bolstered the company.
The company, which sells Atlantic and Coho salmon in main markets across the globe, secured a net profit in the first quarter of $1.6 million, up from a loss of $15.2 million in Q1 2021.
Salmones Camanchaca benefited from the high market prices and larger Atlantic salmon sales volumes, as well as from a $2.7 million boost to the fair value of its biological assets.
Throughout Q1 2022, Salmones Camanchaca witnessed a spike in the price of its Atlantic salmon by 34 percent to around $6.8 per kilogram, marking an all-time high for the company.
“The demand for salmon remains strong throughout the world and consumers have added more salmon to their weekly diet, which has favored prices and offset the cost increases we’ve seen,” Salmones Camanchaca Vice President Ricardo García said in a press release.
“In these first few months of the year, we have once again met face-to-face with the large buyers in the world in Boston and in Barcelona, confirming the great interest that exists for Chilean salmon, for its high nutritional value, for its quality, and because it is more sustainable than the vast majority of other proteins,” García added.
The company’s strong results came despite its harvest of Atlantic salmon actually falling by 11.5 percent year-on-year to 8,108 tonnes. The decline came after one of its farming centers was impacted by low oxygen levels, causing mortalities that cost the company $3.7 million in the quarter.
Salmones Camanchaca harvested 663 tonnes of Coho salmon in the quarter. In total, the company securing sales of 10,566 tonnes of Atlantic salmon, down 12.4 percent, and 1,207 tonnes of Coho salmon, down 12.2 percent.
