The CEO of Hendrix Genetics, Antoon van den Berg, and the general manager of Hendrix Genetics Chile, Rodrigo Torrijo, inaugurated a new salmon breeding center in Catripulli in the Curarrehue municipal district of the Araucanía Region. The inauguration was attended by local authorities, business leaders and representatives of salmon farming companies.

The new CMG Catripulli plant has 184 tanks, frying units and smolt, broiler fattening, spawning, fertilization and incubation rooms.

Van den Berg emphasized that the investment is long-term, indicating that “we want to be here today, tomorrow and in ten and fifty years’ time.”

The project is a sign of the confidence which Chile inspires. As well as the stability required for long-term investments, it offers the specialized human capital that these investments need in order to look to the future.

Co-financing

Hendrix Genetics invested US$8.2 million in the new plant, with the rest of the total outlay of US$9 million co-financed by the government’s Economic Development Agency (CORFO) through its Integrated Promotion Initiatives (IFI) program.

The company noted that the plant will be of great importance for the surrounding area and for the country since, under its genetic improvement program, it will produce up to 45 million eyed eggs of Atlantic salmon annually, optimizing the competitiveness of Chile’s salmon industry in aspects such as fish growth and resistance to diseases (IPN, SRS) and parasites (Caligus).

The European Union is the block of countries that has historically invested most in Chile, accounting for an inflow of US$142,865 million, or 37% of total foreign direct investment (FDI), between 2009 and 2015. Within the EU, Chile’s main sources of FDI are the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, and Germany. Chile is also the EU’s longest-standing trading partner in Latin America, with annual trade reaching over US$17,000 million.