The candidates for the 2025 Chilean presidential elections, together with the President of SalmonChile, Arturo Clément, at the 'Salmon Summit 2025'. From left to right, candidates Evelyn Matthei and José Antonio Kast (now president-elect), Clément, and candidate Jeannette Jara.
Photo: Xiamara Satana, Chris Momberg / SalmonChile.
For the third consecutive year, SalmonChile will bring together in Frutillar, Llanquihue, Los Lagos region, in southern Chile, the main business leaders, scientists, authorities, and representatives of the communities related to salmon farming, but, unlike the two previous editions, when the meeting was held in July, the 'Salmon Summit 2026' will be held two months earlier, in May.
Specifically, the event will take place on May 6th and will be part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of SalmonChile. The main trade association of the Chilean salmon industry is also the organizer of the event, which, as mentioned, is now in its third year, strengthening its position as the sector's leading strategic dialogue forum and one of the most important industry events in southern Chile.
If in previous editions the event addressed topics such as regional development, institutional framework, medium-term projection—the first edition, in 2024, was titled 'Powering Chilean salmon farming to 2050'—or the political role of the sector—under the slogan 'A country strategy from the southern south', last year's edition brought together the three main presidential candidates, placing salmon farming at the center of the national debate and positioning southern Chile as a key territory for the economic and food development in the coming decades—, according to its organizers, this year's edition will seek to take an step further.
Save the Date poster for the 'Salmon Summit 2026' in Chile.
Although it has not yet revealed its slogan, SalmonChile has already announced that the objective of the 'Salmon Summit 2026' will be to project how salmon farming can consolidate itself as a platform for sustainable growth, technological innovation and the generation of opportunities for the southern regions.
"The Salmon Summit 2026 will be a key opportunity to reflect on the progress made in these 40 years as an industry, but above all to discuss the potential that Chile and its coasts have as a food powerhouse and to be leaders in the blue economy," said Tomás Monge, General Manager of SalmonChile.
"Chile, in addition to its leadership in exporting high-quality protein, has a strategic opportunity in salmon farming for the reactivation of the national economy and the economic growth of the regions and their inhabitants," he added.
It should be noted that salmon was the undisputed leader of Chile's non-mining exports in 2025. Last year, salmon and trout exports reached USD 6.549 billion, representing a 3% increase over 2024, establishing Chilean salmon as the country's second most exported product, and consolidating the strategic value of salmon farming for the development of southern Chile and the Chilean economy as a whole.
With the country about to change its government—the leftist Gabriel Boric will leave the presidency on March 11, at which time he will be replaced by the president-elect, the ultraconservative José Antonio Kast, one of the participants in last year's SalmonSummit debate—, the trade association that represents the main producers and suppliers of the Chilean salmon farming industry intends this year to transcend the sectorial debate.
According to SalmonChile, the objective of 'SalmonSummit 2026' is to convene a broad conversation about the development model in southern Chile, the contribution of the different productive sectors to territorial cohesion and the challenge of reconciling growth, sustainability and well-being for the communities.