May 2022: Camanchaca to hike jack mackerel, coho salmon sales, output through 2023

Tom Ruiz, the company’s sales and distribution director in Europe: "We are looking to grow further in the production of frozen head and gutted (H&G) jack mackerel, already having a loyal customer base across Eastern Europe, especially among smokers".

Chilean salmon farmer Camanchaca plans to grow its wild-caught jack mackerel and farmed coho salmon production in both this year and the coming to meet the growing global demand for these products, Tom Ruiz, the company’s sales and distribution director in Europe, told Undercurrent News.

According to him, this aligns with one of Camanchaca’s principal innovations for 2022, the start-up of a new jack mackerel plant in Coronel, in the Biobio region, and the firm’s strategy to focus further on coho salmon, as it cannot be found in Norway.

“We are looking to grow further in the production of frozen head and gutted (H&G) jack mackerel, already having a loyal customer base across Eastern Europe, especially among smokers,” he said during the Seafood Expo Global 2022 show in Barcelona.

The firm plans to increase production from 50,000 metric tons in 2022 to 70,000t in 2023. The new plant, which made its debut in February and has a capacity of 650t per day, produces between nine and 10 million kilograms of jack mackerel per month.

“We also plan the development of a higher-priced Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified jack mackerel product range for Europe, where we see great sales growth in the future,” he added.  Moreover, some other Undercurrent sources have seen some markets like Germany and The Netherlands replacing northeast Atlantic mackerel, which lost the MSC certification in March 2019, with MSC-certified jack mackerel instead.

With Africa already being a big consumer of Camanchaca’s jack mackerel, the company is also looking to develop other markets further, such as China, where it already has clients buying raw material for reprocessing; Ukraine and other Eastern Europe countries such as Poland, Romania or Moldova for smoking; and other Europran countries, such as France, Italy, Belgium, the UK and The Netherlands for H&G.

“Demand is robust and, even though we have seen Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affecting sales in Eastern Europe, we see great potential growth in Western Europe now, which will also be thanks to our new commercial office located in Vigo, in northern Spain,” Ruiz explained.

Besides, Camanchaca also sees its coho salmon production more than doubling in the short-medium term, from 6,000t in 2022 to 20,000t in 2023.

“Camanchaca has traditionally been selling H&G coho salmon in the Japanese market for a while now, but the new features will be again focused on products with a higher added value, such as portions and fillets,” he also commented. “This, being an innovative product that cannot be found in Norway, allows for a deeper diversification of markets, of which Europe represents great importance. We are very optimistic”.

Additionally, the firm sells Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certified frozen mussels, which will also be a relevant part of what Camanchaca will be offering and presenting this year in Europe, the US, and Asia through both retail and foodservice.”Largely focused on the Asian segment, frozen and canned abalone will also be a focus with efforts to develop it in the European market as well,” he concluded.

As Undercurrent previously reported, the firm’s sales to Europe currently account for between 6% and 7% of the Chilean salmon farmer’s total sales, a percentage it aims to grow to 10% in the next two to three years.

source:https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2022/05/10/camanchaca-to-hike-jack-mackerel-coho-salmon-sales-output-through-2023/