October 29, 2013
Chile''s Jan-Aug seafood exports up 10%
In the first eight months of 2013, seafood and aquaculture product export from Chile reached a value of US$3,480 million, representing an increase of 9.9% over the same period in 2012, when US$3,166 million was obtained.
The volume of exports revealed an increase of 3.6%, changing from 874,080 tonnes in 2012 to 906,000 tonnes this year, the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca) reported.
Frozen products sales represented 54.3% of the total, according to the latest Sector Report of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Subpesca. Then, fishmeal (18.6%), frozen fresh products (1.3%) and dried seaweed (6.1%) were located.
According to Subpesca statistics, the main export was Atlantic salmon, which accounted for 41.2% (US$1,433 million) of the total value of sales abroad. It was followed by the rainbow trout (14.5%), the Pacific salmon (8.5%) and the pelagic fish group (4.3%).
Chilean products were destined for 105 countries, of which the nine main ones concentrated 77% of total exports. Among them, the ones that highlighted were US, Japan, Brazil, China and Russia.
Between January and August 2013, the accumulated value of fish exports (405,800 tonnes) amounted to US$925.4 million, a figure that is 5.2% higher than that in the same period last year.
In the first eight months, 168,800 tonnes of fishmeal were exported for US$310.2 million while a year earlier 218,445 tonnes had been exported for US$289.3 million. The prime quality variety represented the largest volume, with 56.5 % of total exports; it was followed by the super prime and the standard quality product with 30.6% and 10.9%, respectively. The prime quality fishmeal until August generated a total of US$140.7 million; the super prime quality product made US$76.4 million, and the standard fishmeal produced US$27 million. The most important destinations of fishmeal were China, Japan and Spain
The export of frozen seafood products totalled US$405.4 million, which represented an increase of 2.5% over the same period of 2012. These products were mainly directed to Nigeria, the US and Japan, with participations in value of 17.7%, 15.7% and 14.6%, respectively.
Also in January-August of 2013, sales of canned products totalled US$51.2 million, 5% less than a year earlier. The main markets were Venezuela, Spain and Belgium, with participations of 25.8%, 19.3% and 6.1%, respectively.
Aquaculture sector exports accounted for 73.4% of total sales abroad and 55.2% of total exports between January and August this year, with US$2,555 million and nearly 500,000 tonnes.