Deepening the sales partnership between two of Chile’s largest salmon producers, Ventisqueros has struck an agreement with Blumar Seafoods to purchase half of Blumar USA, the company’s sales arm for North America.
The deal comes a year after the two companies agreed to a joint venture setting up Blumar USA as a vendor for Ventisqueros’ fresh salmon in the United States, though it does not signal the two companies are seeking to tie themselves together more formally, Blumar USA CEO Sebastian Goycoolea told SeafoodSource.
“After a year of having a very successful experience working together, Ventiqueros decided to purchase 50 percent of the U.S. sales office,” Goycoolea said. “This is a strategic partnership that makes our office stronger, in that we can now offer a more diversified source of product to our big, medium and small accounts in the U.S. and Canada, but with a promise of the same high quality and certification standards they expect from us.”
North America represents both companies’ largest market, accounting for 40 to 50 percent of their sales in volume and sales, Goycoolea said. The deal will result in Blumar USA selling Ventisqueros’ frozen salmon in addition to its fresh product; Combined, the two companies are projected to import an average of 26 million lbs. of fresh salmon and 10 million lbs. of frozen salmon annually into the U.S. through Miami for 2016. Both companies produce very similar totals in volume for fresh and frozen salmon, Goycoolea said.
“The opportunity is there in North America – the market is prepared to grow,” he said. “The United States, especially, is a country we really like to do business. There’s a diversification of customers and we have a number of great partners here who we trust. We don’t see either company concentrating 100 percent on the American market but it looks to continue to be one of our most important markets for sure.”
Blumar USA has 10 employees – eight based in Miami and two salespeople in other U.S. locations. Goycoolea said the company is expected to clear USD 180 million (EUR 160 million) in sales for 2016, “helped a little bit by the price change in the market,” he said.
Ventisqueros farms the majority of its salmon in Chile’s Region X, while Blumar’s farms are in Region XI. Diversifying the geographic footprint of salmon production is important for ensuring a steady supply of product, especially in the aftermath of a recent algal bloom that killed millions of farmed salmon in Region X.
“The industry is faced with surprises all the time,” Goycoolea said. “Having sourcing and processing spread through a more diverse area gives us more flexibility and puts us in a less risky position.”
Production is “pretty much back to normal” following the algal bloom and both companies hope to reach full production soon, he said.
“The risk of red tide is always there, but right now, we’re not seeing any indicator that worries us more than normal,” he said. “Both companies are following their production plans, and if nothing wrong happens, we’ll be up to producing 52 weeks a year. “
Goycoolea said the transition to selling salmon from Ventisqueros and Blumar has been “very smooth” in the past year and that he was not worried about the further melding of the business.
“Both companies have made big efforts to make it easy. Blumar is not selling 50 percent of the business because they need the money. It’s just they see being bigger, stronger and more diversified will let us serve our customers in a more steady and strong way,” he said. “We are very glad about this acquisition. It’s a strategic move that will help us to better approach our customers in the North American market where salmon consumption is growing every year.”
