The Spanish tuna group Calvo plans to produce 300 metric tons of tuna daily in El Salvador and hopes to boost its activity to full capacity by January 2004. According to Calvo Group president, José LuÃs Calvo, this will "possibly represent the largest tuna plant in America today".
The plant will work with two production lines: the preparation of pre-cooked tuna loins, that will be sent frozen to Galicia to transform them into canned product, and the canning production in El Salvador, to launch Calvo in the markets of Middle, South and North America, as well as Eastern European countries, where El Salvador has advantageous import tariffs.
Calvo expects to inaugurate the new facilities coming summer, July 16th. Technicians from Galicia, Spain, constructed the factory. The complete project involved a total investment of more than 50 million euros; the construction of two vessels represented 34 million euros and another 16 million euros were put in for the canning factory.
The new factory represents an expansion for the Galician tuna-canning group in America, as it already owns a factory in Venezuela for the past 14 years. Calvo said that the group chose El Salvador for its new facilities because of the low wages and the fact that Salvadorans "are the best workers of Central and South America". The proximity of yellowfin fishing grounds was another important reason for choosing La Union, El Salvador.