– The Chilean fishing and aquaculture company is in Barcelona as part of Seafood Expo Global, the world’s leading seafood trade fair that brings together more than 1,500 companies from 76 countries.
Talcahuano, April 26, 2022. “Our sustainability and production standards allow us to look decisively at the European market”, said Blumar’s general manager, Gerardo Balbontín, upon his arrival at Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona, alongside the company’s directors, Rodrigo Sarquis and Juan Ignacio Vinagre, and a group of company executives.
Currently, Europe represents 7% of the national fishing company’s total shipments, a figure projected to continue growing in the coming years. This is because Blumar has an office in Pontevedra, a city located in northern Spain, which has enabled the consolidation of Chilean jack mackerel and salmon presence in that continent.
“Placing sustainability at the same level as our business strategy has allowed us to have a production standard that meets the needs of European consumers, and that is something we are highlighting at this trade fair”, detailed Blumar’s president, Rodrigo Sarquis.
In this regard, Sarquis highlighted that at Seafood Expo Global, the largest trade fair in the industry worldwide, which takes place between April 26 and 28, new product lines are being presented, such as Laguna Blanca, which markets salmon produced in the Magallanes Region without antibiotics.
The launch of Laguna Blanca in 2021 coincided with Blumar completing its investment projects at Agua Mar in the Magallanes Region, from where high-quality salmon is produced that is being recognized in different international markets.
“Last year, the international organization Monterey Bay Aquarium classified Atlantic salmon from the Magallanes Region as a ‘good alternative’, recognizing that the production of this animal protein has excellent environmental parameters, and places it as one of eight farming zones that received this rating worldwide, which opens an opportunity for us to commercialize our salmon in demanding markets like the European one”, specified Gerardo Balbontín.
Chilean jack mackerel in Europe
In January of this year, Blumar announced the certification of its chain of custody of jack mackerel plants by the international certifier Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which will allow it to enter forcefully into the commercialization of jack mackerel in different European countries.
In this regard, Blumar’s president, Rodrigo Sarquis, indicated the potential for positioning jack mackerel in the European market: “Chile is a country with fishing vocation and at Blumar we have always believed in the potential of jack mackerel as a tremendously nutritious, versatile product that contributes to world food security.”
With the objective of promoting the export and commercialization of jack mackerel, Blumar also developed an investment plan and modifications to its San Vicente and Rocuant plants. Precisely, the latter allows adding value to jack mackerel, exploring different formats that adjust to consumer needs. “More than 20 years ago we launched the country’s first frozen jack mackerel plant, something that initially many classified as a business error, but which ended up transforming into the beginning of a productive and export activity that today means shipments of more than US$ 230 million from Chile”, stated Balbontín.
The twenty-eighth edition of Seafood Expo Global is the first major gathering of the fishing and aquaculture sector since the pandemic. The event brings together 1,527 exhibiting companies from 76 countries and hosts 59 national and regional pavilions, becoming the world’s leading seafood products event.
During 2021, Blumar was able to recover its results following the effects the pandemic had on exports and consumption. As detailed in its latest
