Christian Molinari

Christian Molinari

Contributing Editor

A native of San Francisco, Christian Molinari has lived and worked in Chile for over 20 years, after having arrived in Santiago as a volunteer and falling in love with the culture and its people. He covered business news in Latin America for over a decade, worked in communications at IBM Chile, and currently freelances in strategic communications and reporting.


Author Archive

Published on
May 17, 2024

Ecuador’s shrimp sector saw its exports drop 22 percent year over year in March, as gains made in many markets were insufficient to offset a 50 percent fall in sales to China, according to the latest figures from the country’s National Aquaculture Chamber (CNA).

In total, Ecuador exported 202.5 million pounds of shrimp in March 2024, bringing in USD 460 million (EUR 428 million) in value. In the same month a year prior, it exported

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Published on
May 15, 2024

At the end of February, Chile’s salmon-farming industry avoided turmoil as the Regional Commission on the Use of Coastal Areas (CRUBC) rejected a request from two Indigenous groups requesting control of an area where a large percentage of the country’s salmon grow-out centers are located.

The area in question, covering more than 620,000 hectares, hosts over 300 aquaculture concessions – 45 percent of existing concessions in

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Published on
May 7, 2024

Loran co-founders José Lorenzo and Andrés Almada said the company, alongside the shrimp farmers with whom it partners, is looking to enter the U.S. marke after recent developments have made it a conducive time to attempt market penetration. 

Loran, a Sonora, Mexico-based fishmeal and fish oil producer, commercializes animal feed products – from raw materials to finished products – including aqua pellet, pet food,

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Published on
April 18, 2024
Santiago, Chile-based fishing and salmon-farming firm Blumar has signed a USD 260 million (EUR 244 million) sustainability-linked loan. The syndicated loan – led by Rabobank and with the participation of banks DNB, Santander, and BCI – establishes sustainability goals for 2030 along four main pillars. Blumar will benefit from lower interest rates as long as it complies with the objectives of the pillars, but will have to pay penalties if it… Read More
Published on
April 15, 2024

A Chilean court of appeals has confirmed salmon farmer Nova Austral must pay a fine of CLP 1.02 billion (USD 1.06 million, EUR 992,000) for environmental infractions.

In July 2022, Chilean environmental agency SMA imposed the fine after it found Nova Austral artificially altered the seabed at its Aracena 14 salmon farm near the city of Punta Arenas. Nova Austal appealed the fine to Chile's Third Environmental Court, which ruled in its favor, but

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Published on
April 15, 2024

An association of salmon farmers in Chile’s southern region of Magallanes has alleged impropriety against Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.-based nonprofit The Pew Charitable Trusts, claiming the nonprofit’s efforts to help formulate a conservation management plan within southern Chile’s Kawésqar National Reserve represent a conflict of interest.

The salmon-farming association has accused Pew of providing financing that


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Published on
April 12, 2024

Peru’s Production Ministry (PRODUCE) has announced it will open the North-Central zone of its anchovy fishery on 16 April, establishing a quota of 2.475 million metric tons (MT) for the first fishing season of 2024.

The total allowable catch (TAC) is significantly higher than the North-Central zone’s two seasons in 2023.

In January 2024, PRODUCE closed the country’s second anchovy season early owing to the effects of El

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Published on
April 11, 2024

On 15 February, the Brazilian Agriculture Ministry suspended all tilapia imports from Vietnam, pending a review of current health protocols and concern over introduction of the TiLV virus into its domestic aquaculture industry.

Brazil Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA) Minister Carlos Fávaro and Brazil Fisheries and Aquaculture (MPA) Minister André de Paulta jointly announced that tilapia imports from Vietnam would be suspended

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