Marel Chile has announced the largest single sale ever made by the company in Central America, following the purchase of a purpose-built tilapia processing line by Costa Rican processor Terrapez S.A.
Terrapez is a member of the AquaCorporación Internacional Group, which commercialises tilapia to the highest quality standards through Rain Forest Aquaculture Inc.
Powered by Innova production management software, the line consists of a raw material grader, filleting and trimming lines, fillet grader, scales, conveyors and chilling tanks, and will process a minimum of 20,000 tons of fish for the Canas-based company each year when fully operational.
“This sale represents another step in Marel’s strategy of focusing increasingly on the rapidly growing markets of Central America and the Far East for farmed fish species such as tilapia and pangasius, and we have been establishing a growing presence in both regions," explains Panama-based sales manager Jón Haraldur Haraldsson.
“Faster processing times, better management tools, increased yield and better product handling mean that the system will pay for itself in a very short time, and this was a major factor in Terrapez choosing Marel as its processing partner,” he concludes.
