Exports of fishery products and aquaculture in Chile reached in the first 10 months of 2011 a value of USD 3,770.7 million. This represents a rise of 32.4 per cent over the same period in 2010, when USD 2848.4 million was obtained.
The export volume was up 12.9 per cent, from 834,750 tonnes in 2010 to 942,250 tonnes last year, the Undersecretariat for Fisheries (Subpesca) informed.
Sales of frozen products and fishmeal were the most voluminous, representing 47.8 per cent and 27.7 per cent of the total, respectively, according to the latest Subpesca Fishing and Aquaculture Sector Report.
Following were fresh refrigerated products (9.1 per cent of the total) and dried algae (6 per cent), among others.
The average price of fishery products exported between January and October was USD 40 per kilogram, 17.3 per cent higher than the same period in 2010.
According to statistics from Subpesca, the main export was Atlantic salmon, which accounted for 26.2 per cent of total sales abroad.
It was followed by the rainbow trout, Pacific salmon and the group of pelagic fish without thorns, among others.
Chilean products were destined to 110 countries, of which the nine major accounted for 78.8 per cent of total exports. Among them are Japan, USA and China.
With respect to the wild fisheries sector, the accumulated value of fish exports (518,000 tonnes) reached between January and October 2011 to USD 1,156 million, reflecting a positive variation of 5.3 per cent over the same period last year.
In the first 10 months, 260,571 tonnes of fishmeal were sold overseas for USD 389.2 million, while a year earlier 291,837 tonnes worth USD 492.8 million were exported.
The most important destinations of fishmeal were China, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Italy.
Foreign sales of frozen seafood products totalled USD 514.5 million, which represented an increase of 45.8 per cent over the same period in 2010. These products are directed mainly to Japan, USA, Russia and Thailand.
As for canned products, sales in the first 10 months of 2011 totalled USD 81.5 million, 12.9 per cent less than the year before.
Aquaculture sector exports accounted for 69.3 per cent of the total value of foreign sales and 45 per cent of total exports between January and October last year, with USD 2,614.3 million and about 423,600 tonnes.
These figures go up 49.3 per cent in value and 34.3 per cent in volume compared with the same period in 2010.
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