Chile's leading salmon exporter, Salmones Multiexport , reported a 30.4% increase in export earnings from January through August of this year, relative to the same period in 1999. Strong early in the year contributed to sales totalling US$662.9m during the first eight months. However, Multiexport management projects that sales will drop off late in the year due to poorer than expected performance in the Japanese market.In addition, prices were lowered modestly in the US in an effort to increase the level of consumption there. As a result, management expects to fall short of its stated goal of US$1bn in earnings for 2000. Multiexport's earning are expected to be in the range of US$900m.