Is Argentina Really Changing? Ask Its Salmon

[SlowWalker]

@FrankPintor

US oil baron Harold Hamm sets sights on Javier Milei’s Argentina

 

[Rich One]

1) your first point seems to be mixing quality ("niche product") with the production/processing facilitise in Chile already. I am not really sure why this is the case.

2) It is not a matter of competing with the existing Chilean production. If the market is growing, then the question is can you continue to expand existing facilities and if so, by how much? Do you continue to expand existing facilities in the same place or look to other locations to diversify. The locations for this species are limited globally.

3) I doubt this is being pushed 100% by the government as an avenue to increase industry but rather being pushed by industry to what they see as a favourable governing party at the moment. Considering that the legislation requires studies and impact assessment, it gives the companies time to complete such works, and by the time any real investment comes up it will be election time and they will see by then how things have progressed and which party is expected to win by then. They won't have to commit to investment until after next election.

4) The risk is the Chilean government. If another party comes in and wants to limit expansion, or reduce industry due to the inherent risks with farmed fishing. If so, the companies may want to have other places that they can easily swap to at the time, possibly just the farming aspect, and keep processing in Chile, or move/parallel operations in Argentina. As a business its a risk mitigation exercise for them to know if they have opportunity to operate in Argentina. Whether they choose to or not is a separate issue.

5) As mentioned in 3) they will have time until investment is needed to see how the economy and politics goes. I would include in this that the Venezuelan situation will be interesting as well as its implications for Latin America. It is still the same governing party, but if under pressure from the US things were to change there and the quality of life and economy improves, it will be a point of interest in why things have gone so slow here. It will probably provide more support for the right than the left in Argentina.

Moving some of the Chilean Salmon Farming to Argentina. Not in the near future.

However due to the large volumes, air freighted, from Puerto Montt and other Chilean Airports Argentinean Airports are being used

Google translate
Chilean salmon is frequently shipped from Argentine airports such as El Calafate (FTE) and Ezeiza (EZE) (Buenos Aires) for global export, using Argentina as a logistics platform to take advantage of large cargo flights, especially those operated by Aerolíneas Argentinas Cargo, which transport it to international destinations like the USA or even consolidate it for other flights. The process involves ground transportation from Chile to these airports, where the cargo is consolidated in refrigerated holds before final shipment.

How does it work?
Origin: Fresh salmon is produced mainly in the Magallanes region of Chile.
Ground transportation: It is transported by road to Argentine airports in the south, such as El Calafate, or directly to Ezeiza in Buenos Aires, to save time.
Consolidation and shipment: In El Calafate, the salmon is palletized and loaded onto Aerolíneas Argentinas Airbus 330-200 aircraft.

 

[FrankPintor]

1) your first point seems to be mixing quality ("niche product") with the production/processing facilitise in Chile already. I am not really sure why this is the case.

I don't know your linguistic or cultural background, but "niche product" in English has absolutely no negative connotations, just meaning, in this case, a low volume, non mass-market product. Nothing to do with quality, you just made that up. Perhaps what would be referred to in US English as "specialty", a usage that grates on the nerves, as in European English that word has an extra "i".

 

[SlowWalker]

Moving some of the Chilean Salmon Farming to Argentina. Not in the near future.

However due to the large volumes, air freighted, from Puerto Montt and other Chilean Airports Argentinean Airports are being used

Google translate
Chilean salmon is frequently shipped from Argentine airports such as El Calafate (FTE) and Ezeiza (EZE) (Buenos Aires) for global export, using Argentina as a logistics platform to take advantage of large cargo flights, especially those operated by Aerolíneas Argentinas Cargo, which transport it to international destinations like the USA or even consolidate it for other flights. The process involves ground transportation from Chile to these airports, where the cargo is consolidated in refrigerated holds before final shipment.

How does it work?
Origin: Fresh salmon is produced mainly in the Magallanes region of Chile.
Ground transportation: It is transported by road to Argentine airports in the south, such as El Calafate, or directly to Ezeiza in Buenos Aires, to save time.
Consolidation and shipment: In El Calafate, the salmon is palletized and loaded onto Aerolíneas Argentinas Airbus 330-200 aircraft.

I don't think they would be considering moving production from Chile to Argentina.
They would be increasing production. Instead of using rivers etc in Chile, they may do so within Argentinian waters.

Again, I don't know almost anything about this industry. But I am assuming that the government was lobbied to do this and in that case it would indicate an interest by the fish farming industry to explore Argentina as a site to house fish farms.

Whether they are processed in Argentina, or Chile, I have no idea.

 

[SlowWalker]

I don't know your linguistic or cultural background, but "niche product" in English has absolutely no negative connotations, just meaning, in this case, a low volume, non mass-market product. Nothing to do with quality, you just made that up. Perhaps what would be referred to in US English as "specialty", a usage that grates on the nerves, as in European English that word has an extra "i".

OK.
But why would it necessarily be niche just because its from Argentina.

The major producers of farmed Atlantic Salmon are Norway and Chile, with smaller production in other European countries, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I think when most people go to the supermarket or Costco and buy Salmon, they either see if its Atlantic or Pacific, or just look at it for its colour, orange vs pink. I don't think where it's sourced from is what people are focusing on or whether its wild or farmed, at least from my experience.