MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

One Norwegian equals 20 Chileans in salmon industry

Norwegian production of salmon is highly intensive and with massive use of technology together with a quick response logistics web makes it the leading country in the industry world wide.

This in practical terms means that while in Norway there are 2.500 direct jobs to produce 641.000 tons of farmed salmon annually, the Chilean industry with a similar 640.000 tons volume employs 40.000, almost twenty fold, reports salmon experts Aqua Chile. Norway and Chile have for several years now disputed the first place as the world's main salmon producer. Scotland, Canada and United States with significant volumes have long been overtaken by the relatively new Chilean industry. However experts point out it's difficult to compare the Chilean and Norwegian markets since the Scandinavian country has a well oiled transport and delivery system with quick access to its main client, the European Union. Chile on the other hand has a more complicated process. It must ship overseas frozen produce with greater added value if it's to compete successfully in Europe, United States and Asia, underlines Aqua Chile. "This helps to explain why the Chilean industry employs more people but this is a decreasing tendency since the elaboration process of the finished produce in Chile is increasingly introducing more technology", said industry sources. Actually ever advancing technology has contributed to allow the industry grow exponentially in the last two decades. Total world production of farmed salmon in 2006 reached 1.6 million tons with Norway leading with 39.7%, followed by Chile, 38.2%, United Kingdom 7.8% and Canada 7.6%. But since 2002 sustained expansion has slowed down to an annual 2% in 2006 and 2007, which is attributed to the industry's stabilization process mainly in Norway and Chile, concludes Aqua Chile.