Cargill shores up seafood strategy by acquiring stake in Chilean salmon business

21 Mar 2022 --- Cargill has agreed to purchase 24.5% of the shares of Salmones Multiexport SA (MultiX), a subsidiary of Multiexport Foods SA, a specialist in salmon farming in Chile. 

In turn, Mitsui, a shareholder of Multi X since 2015, will increase its shareholding by 1.13%, to 24.5%. Multiexport Foods SA maintains control of Multi X with 51% of the total shares. 

The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and the fulfillment of conditions agreed by the parties.

“Adding Cargill as a new partner of Multi X will be a strategic and decisive step in the next stage of development of the company and its purpose to win over the world’s consumers with high-quality, value-added, sustainable products sold under our brands ‘Multi X’, ‘Arka’ and ‘Latitude 45’,” says José Ramón Gutiérrez, chairman of Multiexport Foods SA.

Tracking global salmon consumption
Global consumption of salmon is expected to keep growing, driven by an increase in population and heightened consumer awareness of its health and sustainability benefits. Furthermore, sustainable aquaculture can play an important role in meeting the demand for salmon.

Marine aquaculture is gaining momentum as a sustainable food source for a seven billion plus human population. It recently came under the spotlight as a potential contributor through the research of an international team of scientists from the University of Adelaide and The Nature Conservancy. Mariculture, as it is commonly known, constitutes 52% of the aquatic animal products people consume.Consumption of salmon is expected to keep growing.

“This partnership is an important next step in the development of our seafood strategy and will leverage our capabilities across the value chain, including consumer insights, culinary innovation, value-added processing know-how, risk management, and fish nutrition and health solutions,” says Tim Noonan, managing director, Cargill’s seafood business. 

The partnership signals the company’s confidence in Chile’s salmon industry. “As a result, we hope to provide more customers and consumers access to Multi X’s high-quality portfolio of private label and branded salmon products,” explains Noonan.

Aquaculture under the spotlight
Major supermarket retailers across the UK and Europe came under fire last November for turning a blind eye to unsustainable practices in farmed fish supply chains, according to a report compiled by the Changing Markets Foundation, Feedback and NGOs based in France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

Among the top concerns pegged are “appalling” quality of life conditions of farmed fish, misleading information disseminated to consumers, and that most fish end up as fishmeal. The retailers in question are represented by 49 national supermarket chains (76%) across the EU and UK.

By Inga de Jong