World No. 2 salmon producer Chile is betting on booming Brazilian appetite to boost its key fishing industry as it bounces back from a virus that decimated stocks a few years ago, leading industry group SalmonChile said on Tuesday.

Chile tumbled far behind top producer Norway after the deadly virus Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) emerged in 2007. But the Andean nation is hoping its proximity to the massive Brazilian market will give it an edge over its Nordic rival.

Brazil imported nearly 10 percent of Chile's salmon exports last year, worth $282 million, and Chile aims to raise that by 50 percent this year. Brazil is a distant third in Chile's salmon export markets, far behind Japan and the United States.

"The mood is pretty turbulent in Europe, so (Brazil) helps quite a bit," Maria Eugenia Wagner, president of SalmonChile, told the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit.

"Due to our proximity (to Brazil), we have a comparative advantage versus other producers," she added, decked out in a salmon-color jacket and surrounded by Portugueselanguage posters advertising the fish's benefits.

Chilean producers exported $2.9 billion worth of salmon last year, far behind Norway's more than $5 billion worth of farmed Atlantic salmon exports. Wagner declined to give any production or revenue forecasts for Chilean salmon.

While Chile's net salmon output sank to 400,000 metric tons (440,925 tons) in 2009, the U.S. Agriculture Department's Foreign Agricultural Service says output is seen jumping to 700,000 metric tons this year.

As debt woes plague Europe and a U.S. economic recovery remains tepid, Brazil's growing middle class, eager for new tastes, is increasingly attractive to many in the retail, foods and tourism sectors.

"With (economic) growth, people consume more proteins," said Wagner. "It's good to diversify ... And this is a very important opportunity for Chilean producers."