Tuesday, Feb. 16, 4.00 p.m. CET
Dutch matjes newcomer banks on fresh, new concepts
A newcomer in the matjes herring segment, you ask? Oh yes -- there is a new kid on the block and it made its first appearance at the Bremen show: Holland Matjes.
Founded by former Haasnoot Vis Sales Executive Harry Assink and formally initiated on Feb. 1, the company is planning to bring a breath of fresh air to the otherwise very traditional industry.
"It's a very new thing for herring, usually there are no new market entrants," he told IntraFish. "The market is getting smaller, everyone is fighting for customers and demand is getting less and less."
Assink took the decision to find and invest in his own matjes venture after "internal problems and litigations within the family and shareholders" at Haasnoot Vis resulted in a round of lay-offs.
"All the good people with the know-how in the business were fired, so I thought with a good new marketing concept for a new organization we could build something up."
The look and tone of Holland Matjes is a different one. The team is banking on fresh and loud "in-your-face" marketing and new and innovative recipes, flavors and packaging to promote matjes to young consumers, Assink said.
The company has a small production facility in Germany, close to the Dutch border, and is outsourcing some of its production to facilities in Holland and Lithuania.
Its focus will be on customized service and about “telling a story,” Assink, who is the company’s biggest shareholder, said
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Tuesday, Feb. 16, 3.10 p.m. CET
Marine Harvest's German subsidiary to sell land-based salmon
Polish land-based salmon producer Jurassic Salmon is close to entering a distribution agreement with German smokehouse Laschinger Seafood, which is now part of Marine Harvest Consumer Products, after the latter acquired Morpol in late 2012.
"Laschinger will distribute our salmon," Michal Kowalski, deputy production manager for Jurassic Salmon, told IntraFish.
So far, it's only a "gentlemen's agreement" as the two companies are "still working on the details. But they're going to sell our fish," he said.
From April or May onward the company is planning to harvest around 20 metric tons of the land-grown salmon per week. Eventually, production will be ramped up to 1,000 metric tons annually.
The fish will be sold as a premium and niche product, and "will always be more expensive than traditional salmon," Tomasz Karapunda, vice president at the company, told IntraFish.
When asked if a second production facility is on the agenda, Karapunda answered that "many potential investors are looking at us right now to see if we're able to produce.
"If successful, they might be willing to invest. And we'd be the first ones to start on a second facility," he said.
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Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2.47 p.m. CET
Discounters squeezing pelagic processors on price
Germany's marinated and canned pelagic fish producers continue to suffer as discounters keep squeezing them on price, Wolfgang Meinhardt, co-founder of Zamek-Meinhardt Seafood-Service, Northbay Pelagic's German distribution partner, told IntraFish.
"I don't think it's justified that pelagic fish is sold at such low prices," he said.
The issue is the production overcapacity in Germany.
"Aldi and Lidl relentlessly take advantage of this. Everyone is susceptible to blackmail."
Raw material prices, which already increased quite significantly between 2014 and 2015, are prone to rise further.
"It's not getting any cheaper so I really wish retailers would stop playing that game," Meinhardt said. "No one can live from losses alone."
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Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2.30 p.m. CET
Start-up nabs Metro, Edeka and French retail listings
It looks like pork sausage, it tastes like pork sausage, you eat and prepare it like pork sausage -- but it's actually fish.
With this new, and slightly unusual, idea start-up Welsländer wants to take the German market by storm, and is already showing its first successes.
"We're already listed at Metro, Edeka and Transgourment, and a few others," Stefan Bürgelin, co-founder and managing director at the firm, told IntraFish.
In addition, it nabbed listings with French retailers Super-U, Intermarche and E.Leclerc close to the German border, and inked a few contracts with Austrian buyers, he said.
And the requests are mounting. Produced from fresh German catfish fillets the company sources from all over the country, Welsländer only adds oil, ice and seasoning before processing it into a sausage.
"It's gluten-free, lactose-free, allergen-free, and we don't use preservative agents," Bürgelin said.
Welsländer offers nine standard products it also sells through an online shop, but has another 30 recipes it can produce.
"It's just a convenient product. You can take it anywhere, it's easy to eat and prepare, just like a normal but healthy sausage."
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Tuesday, Feb. 16, 12.02 p.m. CET
German consumer spending on fish hits new record high
German seafood purchasing remained stable between 2014 and 2015, despite some category shifts, according to new preliminary figures by the Fisch-Informationszentrum (FIZ).
Overall, volumes bought by German households went up 1.1 percent to 416,041 metric tons worth €3.6 billion, which is an increase of 3.1 percent.
"German consumers have never spent that much money on fish and seafood before," Matthias Keller, managing director at FIZ, told IntraFish.
The biggest driver was once again the fresh segment, which jumped a staggering 17.7 percent year-on-year to 65,763 metric tons.
The value went up 14.8 percent to €880.3 million, indicating an average price decline of 2.4 percent to €13.39 per kilogram.
Frozen fish on the other hand showed a drop of about 7,000 metric tons year-on-year, or 5 percent, to 133,911 metric tons, Keller said, pointing to a 4.8 percent hike in the average price per kilogram to €7.07.
In total, Germans spent €947.3 million on frozen fish, down 0.4 percent from the previous year.
Keller said it's too early to say if there has actually been a "cannibalization process" of frozen by fresh fish. But the higher prices and consumer perception in favor of fresh fish definitely played a role, he said.
"Every time prices are going up, volumes drop."
Smoked fish saw a slight decline in volumes year-on-year, while the marinated and canned fish segments grew volumes in 2015.
Salmon already overtook pollock as the most-consumed species in 2014, and "it's very likely it will take the lead again in 2015," Keller told IntraFish.
Overall, the "hype around chilled fish is gigantic," he said.
And it's expected to continue to grow. "Consumers now buy their fish more realtime. Smaller portions for immediate consumption. That will see the MAP segment growing further."
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Tuesday, Feb. 16, 9.16 a.m. CET
Former German Seafrozen exec launches new trading company
The beginning of February saw the launch of Oskar Sigmundsson's newest venture, Maros.
Sigmundsson, who left Parlevliet & Van der Plas-owned German Seafrozen Fish at the end of July 2015 after 15 years, aims to push one particular species into the German market: Icelandic 'golden' redfish.
The now double sustainably certified fish was once a traditional item on German dinner plates but lost market share " Sigmundsson told IntraFish.
"Due to a lack of sustainable certification redfish came under fire, for instance from Greenpeace, which put it on its 'to avoid' list," he said.
"But since then it gained two eco certifications, is well managed and the total allowable catch is stable at 48,500 tons."
The fishery earned both the Iceland Responsible Fisheries (IRF) and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification in 2014.
Together with "good support from suppliers," Sigmundsson is convinced there is an opportunity to bring the fish back as a more regular item in Germany.
Golden redfish can now be offered both fresh and single-frozen, he said, boneless, as fillets and loins. "It's all about consumer convenience," he said.
Initially Maros will focus on the German foodservice market, and Sigmundsson is already eying a couple of other "promising" countries.
Growth will be slow there but sustainable, he believes.
"A lot of things need to happen before boneless single frozen Golden redfish fillets or loins will become a regular item on retail shelves," he told IntraFish, adding he and his team are currently looking for a partner.
"It's going to be a long road but the fish deserves to be out there. It's a nice story to be told," he said. "But we're in it for the long run."
And interest is growing, and the first orders from German customers have been made at fish international.
In addition to redfish, Maros will also sell Atlantic cod and saithe.
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Monday, Feb, 15, 5.12 p.m. CET
German mega-trends: Sushi and freshness
Processor Deutsche See is seeing two clear “mega-trends” in Germany's seafood segment: sushi and freshness, combined with convenience.
Talking to IntraFish, Andreas Kremer, head of communications at the company, said both trends play into the Deutsche See’s hands.
“That’s where we can show our strength,” he said, citing Deutsche See’s credo ‘prepared in the evening, delivered in the morning’ (‘Abends gemacht, morgens gebracht').
In 2014, it shut the sushi production at its Danish subsidiary Taste of Tokyo and moved it to Bremerhaven, Germany, where it now manufactures fresh sushi six days a week.
In January, it relaunched the products under a new packaging, Kremer said, and added a vegetarian box to the line.
Deutsche See is also moving further into the chilled fresh MAP segment, constantly developing new product concepts, Kremer said.
“The MAP segment [in Germany] has been developing rapidly both in frozen and fresh,” he told IntraFish. “But especially chilled is seeing a steep growth curve.”
The company, which is back at the Bremen show for the first time in eight years, is aiming to send a “strong signal” to the market.
“We want to do more in the German market, more products, new concepts and more marketing.”
Deutsche See has been growing its turnover steadily over the past years, but “we want to have further success,” Kremer said.
The company sells 75,000 metric tons of fish and seafood in about 3,500 different product variations to around 35,000 customers in retail, foodservice and gastronomy annually.
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Monday, Feb. 15, 4.20 p.m. CET
Waste not, want not
Russian firm Future Technology is offering a new technology, which -- its founder claims -- could revolutionize salmon roe production.
Instead of using mature eggs, the machine makes it possible to separate fish eggs from connective tissue at any stage of the fish's development -- which means from immature eggs, which is usually thrown away.
According to Vyacheslav Sova, research project manager at the Moscow-based company, the output of immature salmon roe could reach thousands of metric tons -- if used from the 5 million metric tons of farmed salmon worldwide.
Rich in natural long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids, 20-25 percent EPA and 22-25 percent DHA, the roe would provide sufficient daily intake with only about 10 grams.
"I don't believe in Omega-3 sold in fish oil and capsules," Sova told IntraFish. "This technology makes it possible to produce safe, clean salmon roe with no danger of bacteria coming in."
The only thing added to the roe is water and salt before it's frozen, he said.
The idea for the technology has its roots in the Soviet Union. Sova was commissioned by the then Ministry of Fisheries to develop this project.
"But the Soviet Union no longer exists," he laughed, which is why he took it in his own hands to move the project forward.
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Monday, Feb. 15, 3.33 p.m. CET
From start-up to big business -- Germany's PTC shows how it's done
German trader and processor PTC is looking back at an impressive growth history. From its beginnings as a small trading business only five years ago it has come a long way.
The group now operates four plants, one in Bremerhaven, Germany, one in Turkey, one in Poland and one in Cambodia.
And next week it will inaugurate its fifth, a "brand-new" plant in Serbia, stretching across 500,000 square meters, Petek Sengul of bass and bream producer Penta Seafood -- PTC's Turkish subsidiary with which it merged in early 2015 -- told IntraFish.
Total group turnover now amounts to €130 million. In addition, it reported around €50 million from its "trading tool" PTC Belgium, which is focusing on one big customer, Metro.
And the company doesn't want to stop there, Heiner Geurden, management executive at PTC, said.
For this year, the company expects a group turnover of €210 million to €215 million, of which €50 million will come from Penta in Turkey.
For the Belgian business, the target is €80 million in sales.
Germany is the company's biggest market, but it now also exports to the United Kingdom, to France, Switzerland and Holland. The "big business" is in retail, but around 30 to 40 percent of the turnover comes from foodservice.
"The new target is the US," Sengul said. Bass and bream are among the biggest products, in addition to fresh and frozen scallops, pike perch, tuna and both farmed and wild salmon.
"We have many plans for the future and we have good cards," Sengul said.
The secret to PTC's success? "Make the customer happy, understanding the product and understanding the customer," Geurden told IntraFish.
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Monday, Feb. 15, 2.30 p.m. CET
Shrimp shifts
The steep rise in coldwater shrimp prices has left its mark in the industry and Danish firm Chrisfish is seeing it all to well: Once dominated by wild shrimp, it's now more like 50-50 between wild and farmed, Jorn-Ole Bertelsen, factory and sales manager for Europe at Danish firm Chrisfish, told IntraFish.
"We have moved a lot more toward warmwater because of the high prices," he said. Prices for farmed shrimp are still 20 percent lower than for wild "and we have to be moving that."
Nevertheless, the supply outlook for coldwater shrimp is now "a little more normal" compared to last year and "finding a level," Bertelsen said.
Prices declined 15 percent from the peak in October/November last year -- but prior to that they increased "more than 100 percent."
Chrisfish's biggest market for its shrimp in brine is Italy, while Germany is still fairly small.
"But we started five years ago with nothing and now have 25 smaller foodservice companies as our customers," Bertelsen said. "It's growing slowly."
In 2015, Chrisfish reported a turnover of about €50 million.
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Monday, Feb. 15, 2.05 p.m. CET
Polish processor eyes fresh growth
Warsaw-listed Graal is looking back at a remarkable growth story: Established in 1989, it is now the country's biggest processor, operating five plants across the country.
In 2014, the company reported a turnover of about €250 million, Anna Rogowska, export director at the firm, told IntraFish.
Its portfolio ranges from smoked, fresh and frozen salmon and other fish such as halibut, trout, canned fish, ready-meals including meat, and marinated herring products.
Rogowska said, "fresh production is the way we will go in the next years. It's growing.
"We would like to continue and develop that growth and become the leading distributor in eastern and central Europe," she said.
The company now exports to "almost all European Union countries" and sell its products to the United States, with Wal-Mart as its biggest client, Japan and Australia, Rogowska said.
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Monday, Feb. 15, 12.00 p.m. CET
Bass, bream prices: The Spanish x-factor
Global seabream and seabass prices have started the year with a jump and expectations are they remain stable at levels of around €5 to €5.50 per kilo, Sinan Kiziltan, executive VP at Kilic, told IntraFish.
"The average price for the next six months will be at €5.50," he said.
This view was echoed by Agromey's Tolga Uruk and Kopuzmar's Ismail Aksoy.
"Greek production is decreasing and Turkish production is stable," Uruk said.
Turkish hatcheries have reached their capacities, he said. "We're happy with these prices, and we don't want to lose that position."
Aksoy agreed, telling IntraFish stable prices "will help everyone."
However, what could play a role in the second half of the year is the Spanish production, Kiziltan said.
"Only God knows what is going to happen. Spanish companies are increasing their production but they don't know where to sell," he said.
According to him, 115 million juveniles will be released into the water in Spain this year.
Kilic itself reported a "record year" in 2015 with $120 million in export sales, Kiziltan said
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Monday, Feb. 15, 11.45 a.m. CET
SeaCon: In it for the sushi
Maruha Nichiro-owned Dutch importer Seafood Connection has one goal in Bremen this year: to promote is fledgling sushi toppings business.
Since the company started with it two years ago things have slowly been developing, Cees Zeeman, sales manager at the company, told IntraFish.
"Turnover is easily a few millions already, but sushi is expensive," he said. "We want to present ourselves as a new player in the sushi sector."
The company currently offers 25 high-end sushi toppings, including a range of fish species, but also shrimp and surimi. "The sushi trend is still booming," Zeeman said.
Other than that, things are going well at the company, he said.
Trans-Europe Seafood Sales BV (TESS) was integrated into Seafood Connection as of Jan. 1 "and we now have the pollock business under that flag."
France, where the company opened an office about a year ago is growing well, Zeeman said, and a Scandinavian office was also just opened up.
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Monday, Feb. 15, 11.04 a.m. CET
Kopuzmar ponders name change
Turkish producer Kopuzmar is planning to change its name to Lucky Fish from its umbrella name Ugurlu Balik, Ismail Aksoy, commercial director at the company, told IntraFish.
So far, the firm had been operating under eight different names, and "at the moment we're planning to eliminate most," he said.
Lucky Fish will be the new umbrella name and the company is planning to run a number of promos and advertisements later in the year.
"It's just easier to remember," Aksoy said.
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Monday, Feb. 15, 10.27 a.m. CET
Turkey, Russia relations: 'A very thin line'
When Russia banned European producers from selling into the country in summer 2014, Turkish seabass and seabream producers saw an opportunity for a new big growth market.
But things have turned for the worse and the strained relations between the two countries are taking their toll, Tolga Uruk, marketing and sales director at Agromey, said.
"It's a very thin line," he told IntraFish. "We have a good relationship with our Russian clients."
However, politics are affecting these relationships and the economic downturn in the country is also impacting sales.
"People have less money and fish consumption is declining a little every day," Uruk said.
The company, which expects an export turnover of around $70 million in 2016, is now focusing on new markets.
Holland is its biggest market, but mainly for distribution, followed by Italy, Spain, the United States and the Middle East. Especially the latter two are growing strongly, Uruk said.
In the long term, the Far East will also become an important market.
Agromey is Turkey's second biggest seabream and seabass producer with around 15,000 metric tons of production.
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Monday, Feb. 15, 08.15 a.m. CET
We're back in Bremen!
This year in its 15th edition, fish international is back in the Hanseatic city of Bremen, Germany, running from Feb. 14 to Feb. 16, 2016.
Two years ago, around 230 exhibitors from 20 nations presented their newest products in the areas of fish production and processing, fresh fish and delicacies, as well as research and development to almost 11,000 visitors from fisheries management, retail and catering.
Messe Bremen, the show's organizers, expect a similar turnout this year. IntraFish will be seeing on the showfloor!
