MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fisheries News.

Headlines:
Stricter management of coastal fisheries; Chilean salmon exports targeted to increase 10%; Galician canners justify overseas investments;

Stricter management of coastal fisheries Chilean salmon exports targeted to increase 10%

General Manager of SalmonChile Rodrigo Infante announced that the value of Chilean salmon and by products exports will experience a 10% increase during 2004, reaching 1,3 Billion US dollars. Talking to the regional newspaper El Llanquihue, Mr. Infante said that the increase will originate mainly in an expansion in the supply of value added products and hopefully in current prices maintain their current level. Mr. Infante also confirmed that this financial year salmon exports will be close to 1,2 billion US dollars, with a salmon and trout production reaching 300,000 tonnes. His optimism is based on the fact that the salmon market has shown an average annual expansion of 15%, which guarantees relatively stable price levels. The main salmon consumers are the US and Japan, together representing 85% of the market, a situation which is not expected to change. "We hope to see Brazil showing signs of recovery by next year, although Argentina still has a long way to go, as its market domestic plummeted significantly," added Mr. Infante. Total investment in the salmon industry this decade is expected to reach 1,4 billion US dollars, however 2004 estimate is still unclear. International recession along with years of zero growth has made it necessary to build new installations, explained Mr. Infante. "We have experienced a period of stable production, and there is therefore a possibility to increase production without having to make a very large investment." There will however, be investment in the Aysén Region (XI), where new production centres are being opened. This region where the bulk of the planned growth will be concentrated, already contributes 19% of total production. The Los Lagos Region (X) will require some improvement of its processing plants, in order to permit the development of new product lines. High value added products, the replacement of animal origin diets with vegetal origin ones, vaccine research and development, and the improvement of logistics, are among the industry's challenges. The development of production chains and equating production levels to demand are also important aims. "We have very significant challenges ahead of us, related to product optimisation, training, and making the market aware of how healthy our product is", pointed out Mr. Infante. However, Mr. Infante said the industry was more concerned with the environmentalist groups, foreign production market tactics and growing domestic pressure for greater "social responsibility" given reiterated claims of abusive labour practices in the industry. (FIS/MP).-

Galician canners justify overseas investments

Galician canners insist that their decision to build fish processing factories in Latin America and Morocco is part of a legitimate effort to prevent the industry from loosing ground against imports and low price brands. In a report by La Voz de Galicia, sources from one of the three major fishing companies indicated that the canning industry does not intend to ?destroy' employment opportunities in Galicia but highlighted that the decision was taken so that "the companies can grow and compete". Galician unions claim that the decision to move plants from Spain to Latin America and African countries is because of the advantages and incentives these regions offer, plus the available cheap labour, compared to the high wages and labour costs in Europe. Unions estimate that moving plants from Galicia will have an impact in the annual processing of 70,000 tons of sea food and the 7,000 jobs in the industry. Canners, meanwhile, have based their decision to move on the fact that the market has been severely affected by the invasion of foreign products. Data provided by the Foreign Trade Institute (ICEX) shows that between 1999 and 2000, imports of canned fish and seafood products jumped 40% in Spain. In the first eight months of 2003 more canned products were imported than the Galician companies managed to export. Besides in 2002, large supermarket's own brands, and imported cans made up more than 30% of the Spanish market. Secretary general of Anfaco-Cecopesca, Juan Manuel Vieites, said that "given this situation, internationalization is a crucial move for the canning industry". It is estimated the Galician canning sector has invested 200 million Euros in Latin America. Local companies decided to begin production in Latin America and to a lesser extent in Africa in 2001. Calvo has installed a modern plant in Salvador, Garavilla has settled in Ecuador and Morocco, Jealsa in Guatemala, Salico in Ecuador, and Conservas Peña is planning to build a factory in Morocco. (FIS/MP).-