Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) will accelerate expansion of
its salmon (including trout) farming business through the
acquisition of Salmones Humboldt S.A. (SH) through its
subsidiary company, Southern Cross Seafoods S.A.
(SCS). The transaction value of this acquisition is
approximately USD 125 million (JPY 10 billion).
SH has salmon farming assets which fully integrate fresh
water farming (*1), sea water farming (*2) and processing
plants. Through these facilities, SH has farming and
processing capacity of 20,000mt/year. By adding these
facilities to the current trading operations and
10,000mt/year farming capacity currently held by SCS, MC
aims to establish stable supplies of farmed salmon for the
Japan, US and European markets, as well as for rapidly
expanding markets in emerging nations.
<Background>
Worldwide supply of salmon is approximately 3.1 million mt
and farmed salmon represents about 60% of this
volume. It's been 20 years since commercial salmon
farming first started and currently, Norway and Chile are
the two major suppliers. At present, Norway, which has
supplies of 1.0 million mt per year, supplies to Europe,
while Chile, which has supplies of 0.4 million mt per year,
supplies to North America and Asia. Due to its
sensitivities to factors such as climate, sea water
temperature and geography, there are limits to the number
of areas that are suitable for salmon farming. As a result,
supply of farmed salmon is expected to reach its limit in
the near future. Supplies of wild salmon are also
approaching their peak due to increasing fishing costs and
stricter controls of natural resources globally.
On the other hand, demand has been strong, especially in
emerging countries such as Russia, Brazil and Asian
countries with compound annual growth rates of more than
10% in the past 5 years. There is also stable demand
in Europe (0.75 million mt/year) and Japan (0.3 million
mt/year), and as a result supply and demand of farmed
salmon will be tight in the coming future.
Chile is geographically very well suited to salmon farming.
It has a long stretch of fiords along its coastline where
there is only a gentle current, and it has access to clean,
cool water from rivers and lakes which is essential in such
farming. The country is also one of the major
producers of fish meal and oils which are the main
ingredients in farmed salmon feed. Chile has also signed
Free Trade Agreements with Japan, the US, China and other
countries, giving it certain economical advantages over
other farming nations as well.
MC has a long history of creating marketing channels for
marine products and providing stable supplies of products
to its customers. We have been involved in farmed
salmon trading since the early 1990s when the supply of
farmed salmon exceeded wild salmon for the first time in
history. In January 2011, we established SCS and in
doing so entered the salmon farming business in
Chile. MC established SCS because, with supply and
demand becoming increasingly tight, we believe that in
order to meet the growing demand from our global customers,
who require farmed salmon all year round, it is essential
for us to procure additional farmed salmon to that which
comes from our existing trading business
alone. Acquisition of SH is also in line with this
decision. This acquisition is part of our Living
Essentials Group's core strategy of "Expansion of the food
supply sources".
*1) Fresh water farming: Facilities on land in which
hatched alevin grows for
8-12 months.
*2) Sea water farming: Marine facilities in which smolt
grows into mature fish.
<SH>
Company
Name:
Salmones Humboldt S.A.
Business:
Salmon farming, processing and marketing
Location:
Puerto Montt, Chile
Major
Shareholders:
Sociedad Pesquera Coloso, Sociedad de Inversiones Coloso
Year
Founded:
May 2006
<SCS>
Company
Name:
Southern Cross Seafoods S.A.
Business:
Salmon farming and marketing
Location:
Puerto Montt, Chile
Major
Shareholders:
MC, Primar
Year
Founded:
January 2011
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