Source: Diario CoLatino
Last week, the Spanish tuna canning Group Calvo, in El Salvador, announced a reduction in operations and lay off of 300 jobs because of the tuna fishing closure established in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) and the economic crisis.
According to the Director of Operations of Calvo in El Salvador, Miguel Angel Penalva Arigita, the decline in production has forced Calvo to cut down on personnel, however, this under lay-off agreements with the employees: “Due to the lack of raw material we will have to reduce operations in some areas. And the major cause for it is the tuna ban lasting two months – the longest period announced in the past years. Vessels from other nationalities will deliver fish to Ecuador, but it would cost us too much to have them coming to El Salvadorâ€, he affirmed.
The representative of Calvo said it was a “very difficult decision†considering the economic crisis El Salvador is going through. Calvo is the most important company within the country’s fisheries sector and cutting jobs right now will deeply affect many families. Mr. Arigita said that the company is still trying to find ways in securing more raw material, which would cause a less impacting action.
Calvo’s plant in El Salvador is operating since 2003 with a 65.000 M/T annual capacity and 1.500 employees. 80% of its production is exported to Europe. The management team did not express any intention of closing down operations definitively in the country.