IntraFish is blogging live from the Conxemar frozen seafood exhibition and the following FAO conference in Vigo, Spain. Check back here to get up to the minute coverage.
Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2.15 p.m. CET
Icelandic Iberica targets new markets, opens France office
“We are not the biggest company, but not the smallest one either,” said Pedro Espino, marketing and creative director at the company. “Wnd we are happy to stay that way.”
The firm, which is part of the wider Icelandic Group, is moving into new markets, it has recently open a new office in Paris – it operates in France since 2012 – and it is receiving good feedback from Turkey and eastern European countries.
“One of our goals is to reach new markets, we also have some business in Switzerland and Greece, but these are not our main markets or focus,” Espino told IntraFish.
Icelandic’s main product is and will always be cod, Espino said, and at this year's Conxemar the group presented a new line of value-added products within its speciality.
“It is prepared in the most artisanal way it can be done, taking into account that we are producing industrial amounts,” he said.
However, products such as Argentinean shrimp or hake are also growing more important for the business, as it allows the company to offer more variety and to reach out to new customers.
In Spain, Espino said, consumers are looking for quality, and now that the financial situation is more stable, people are growing more "selective" again.
“The Austral shrimp we sell is a high quality product, it is packed at sea when it is still fresh, rather than hours after being caught. The final product’s quality is very high.”
--Lola Navarro
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Wednesday, Oct. 7, 12.05 p.m. CET
Lidl supplier: Salmon getting big in Romania
Romania’s salmon market is expanding quickly – and so is the country’s largest importer and processor, Ocean Fish.
Established in 1998 in Afumati, 14 kilometers from the capital Bucharest, the company now buys three to four trucks of salmon from Norway, Chile and the Faroe Islands every week, Alexandru Gurduza, import manager Europe at Ocean Fish, told IntraFish.
It is expected that turnover will jump around 65 percent from €34 million last year to exceed €50 million this year, he said.
Much of it is down to a change in the country’s VAT rate from 24 to 9 percent – to crack-down on black-market trade, Gurduza said, but demand is growing nevertheless.
“Now we feel everything is going the right way,” he said.
The group’s biggest client is discounter Lidl, which accounts for about 20 percent of the Ocean Fish’s salmon business.
It supplies “at least” one truck of private label MAP-packed, salmon fillets and Turkish trout per week to the retail chain.
“These are our products of continuity but we add variants according to Lidl’s demands,” Gurduza said.
In addition to salmon, the company also imports and distributes frozen fish, including mackerel and Vietnamese pangasius.
Gurduza described the processing plant as “one of the most modern” in Romania.
Ocean Fish’s operations stretch across an area of 22,000 square meters, which includes two separate processing facilities and a cold store with a capacity of 10,000 pellets.
Its main products are branded and private label smoked and marinated salmon, smoked and marinated pelagic fish, and marinated seafood including salad, but also repacked frozen fish, which it sells to major retailers and foodservice companies across the country.
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Wednesday, Oct. 7, 11.55 a.m. CET
In times of crisis, look for solutions abroad
Vigo-based Noriberica Frozen food sees exports as the solution to overcome the Spanish crisis, Gianfranco Pascarella, from the company’s import and exports department, told Intrafish.
“Over the last three years we have seen an annual increase on sales of 20 percent,” he said.
“We sell 70 percent of our production to the Italian market, and we are planning to expand to Central America – where we already have some business -- and, in the long term, to the United States,” he said.
“The financial crisis hitting Europe, and especially in countries such as Spain and Italy hasn’t affected us.”
Noriberica sells processed and unprocessed frozen seafood, to retail, wholesalers, and foodservices.
“There are many different markets to choose from. You only need to move around and try to find them,” Pascarella said.
--Lola Navarro
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Wednesday, Oct. 7, 11.05 a.m. CET
Panama progresses on yellowfin tuna farming
It’s been a big year for tuna aquaculture and Panama just added another success story to the list, according to Ivan Flores, general manager at the country’s marine resources authority (Autoridad de los Recursos Acuaticos de Panama – ARAP), told IntraFish.
“We are the first country in the world to have completed the full cycle of yellowfin tuna farming – from the lab, to juveniles, to grow-out and back,” he said.
The effort was a collaboration between ARAP, the International Tropical Tuna Commission, Japan’s Kinki University and Jica – and took about five years.
As a next step, a commercial pilot farm will be launched in 2016.
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Wednesday, Oct. 7, 10.40 a.m. CET
Maruha Nichiro to merge Seafood Connection, TESS operations
Maruha Nichiro-owned Dutch importer Seafood Connection is set to integrate sister company Trans-Europe Seafood Sales BV (TESS) into its operations, Johan Brouwer, sales director at the firm, told IntraFish.
The merger will become official as of Jan. 1, 2016, and the new entity will operate as "one sales department under Seafood Connection," he said, resulting in a more efficient, growth-oriented operation in Europe.
Click here to read the full story.
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Wednesday, Oct. 7, 10.06 a.m. CET
What's new at Pescanova’s majestic booth?
Cristina Fernandez, marketing director at Spanish multinational Pescanova, was really happy to see an Intrafish face at Conxemar.
As if nothing had happened during the last weeks at the company's headquarters, all the news she had was about new products.
“Let's focus on writing about the products we are presenting, that’s what we are here for,” she said, when asked about possible consequences of the company’s recent restructuring.
“I don’t know anything about that.”
But well, the company certainly had quite a new range to present at the show this year.
On the surimi side -- which accounts for 40 percent of its sales -- the group is introducing chopped crabsticks, and surimi sticks filled with smoked salmon.
Pescanova is also presenting its new skin-on turbot.
“The skin keeps the fish soft when in the oven. The pack has two whole fish farmed in our own plants located in Galicia and Portugal,” Fernandez said.
--Lola Navarro
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Wednesday, Oct. 7, 09.05 a.m. CET
Panama shrimp producer eyes expansion
Vannamei shrimp producer Farallon Aquaculture, which has operations in Panama, Venezuela and Nicaragua, is planning to grow its production output from currently 12,000 pounds to 16,000 pounds per year, Jacqueline Obediente, commercial director at the firm, told IntraFish.
Farallon is planning to develop new farms in Venezuela, she said. “We grow every year as we invest every year.”
The company’s shrimp find their main market in Taiwan, followed by European countries such as Spain and France, as well as the United States, and Italy and Greece.
“It changes every year [in terms of markets],” Obediente said. “It depends on the prices.”
Ecuadorian prices are dictating also prices for Panamanian shrimp.
“They fortunately have increased from the very low levels we had before,” she told IntraFish. “We hope they will now stabilize.”
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Wednesday, Oct. 7, 9.00 a.m. CET
Krustagroup moves toward more competitive retail pricing
Spanish company Krustagroup is presenting a whole new packaging selection for its frozen shrimp, and some new products at this year’s Conxemar show.
The company’s Key Account Manager David Pena Diaz told IntraFish the group has seen an opportunity to change its image, to adapt the weight of the packs to the current market, and to make retail prices more competitive without changing the price per kilogram of the products.
Krustagroup operates around 18 fishing vessels in Mozambique, Argentina, and the Barents Sea, catching wild shrimp, jumbo shrimp, squid, and hake that is processed and packed in its plant located in Huelva, Andalusia.
“At the moment we only have one plant, but have an exclusivity agreement with a factory in Asia, and another one with a Thai surimi supplier,” Pena said, adding this unnamed Thai company doesn’t have any fishing vessels, but buys fish from other countries, and then produces surimi that is later sold to Krustagroup.
“Our trade with this company has not been affected by the situation in Thailand at all,” he said, hinting at the current issues in the Thai fishing industry.
Krustagroups reported a turnover of €120 million last year, but it is expecting to see a slight decrease this year due to a drop of Argentinean shrimp prices, he said.
“Last year we sold around 15,000 metric tons, and we are expecting to register similar volumes in 2015.”
The group is currently selling to wholesalers and retailers in Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania, Denmark, Japan, China, and Norway.
“Our objectives are to enter European markets where we’re not present yet and, more urgently, to consolidate our business in China,” he said.
--Lola Navarro
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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 6.05 p.m. CET
Viciunai pushing into Spain, Italy
Lithuanian surimi processor Viciunai is pushing for increased sales into the Spanish and Italian market, as the French market continues to struggle, Dirk Belmans, CEO of Viciunai Europe, told IntraFish.
"There is still a problem in France -- it's the biggest but also the most saturated market in [western] Europe," he said. "Without innovation saturation means the market goes down and down."
Nevertheless, the company is "trying to change that" with its latest 'hot' surimi innovation, the Fritters, which Viciunai is going to sell at supermarkets under the name Fri' de Mer from March next year, an innuendo to fruit de mer (seafood platter).
The company is also planning to launch the product into Belgium in February or March, Belmans said.
In addition, it is testing the waters in Spain, presenting the product to buyers at Conxemar.
"We're currently testing the grounds with this new concept...the signals are positive. But Spain is a little bit more different, it's much more traditional than other markets," he said.
A final decision will be made after the show.
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 5.45 p.m. CET
Alfrio re-launches products, aims to increase sales
Spanish seafood processor Alfrio is planning to re-launch existing products with improvements in their the production phase, Elfa Lopez, general director at the firm, told IntraFish.
“We want to increase sales volumes of products such as mussels in their juice,” Lopez said. “We sell mussels individually packed under two patented brands, Alfrio and Galvigo, and also under third brands.”
Lopez told IntraFish the group has invested heavily in the renewal and the expansion of its supply chain.
The group, which has two factories in Spain -- in A Coruna and Vigo -- and one processing plant in Ghana, sells a 50 percent of its precooked and frozen fish and seafood to Spain.
The rest goes into European markets such as Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and France, and also some of its product is sold to the United States.
“Last year we sold 17,000 metric tons, and registered a turnover of €59 million, and we expect to reach €63 million in sales in 2015,” she said.
At the moment, the biggest challenge for the sector is the volatility of the raw material prices, which is decisive to determine how companies operate, she said.
--Lola Navarro
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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 4.30 p.m. CET
Lumar Seafood expands tuna steak line
In the past year, Lumar Seafood’s has seen increasing success with its dates and bacon tuna steak, “so much so that we are launching four more products along the same line into the markets,” Noa Manteiga, international sales manager at Lumar, told IntraFish.
The new tuna steaks – filled with Sicilian caponata, pumpkin and walnuts, spinach and feta, and Duxelle mushrooms — will be sold into European countries, especially targeting Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland and Portugal, Manteiga said.
Consumption trends in Spain are moving toward more international ways, and the lifestyle is also conditioning people’s eating habits.
“What we offer is a solution, people don’t have time to cook, but they can have a healthy meal ready in two minutes,” she said.
--Lola Navarro
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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 3.34 p.m. CET
Mickey Mouse, Star Wars and Frozen -- Disney gets fishy
Spanish seafood processor Fandicosta had some big news to share at this year's Conxemar show: It recently inked a deal with Disney to launch a line of pre-cooked, MSC-certified hake products for kids.
So far, three products have been launched, which will be sold under the company's Maremundi brand, Jose Maria Nunez, business development manager at Fandicosta and coordinator of the project, told IntraFish.
Nunez called it a "good deal for both" parties -- Fandicosta and Disney.
The launch followed extensive talks -- which according to Nunez went on for "months and months" -- and plays into Disney's new corporate social responsibility program, which includes a project aimed at improving eating behavior within families and to get kids to eat healthier food.
Fandicosta started approaching customers "across all channels" ahead of the show and the interest has been huge, Nunez said. "You will see the products in stores very soon."
An initial introduction is planned in Spain and Italy, but the company is also eying the French market, as well as the rest of Europe. Any expansion, however, is strictly controlled by Disney, Nunez told IntraFish.
"They provide all the help they can offer, including all the materials, the communication and they will have to approve any new products we're planning to launch in the future."
The plan is to gradually expand the line, he said. "We will try and promote and launch new products, even in line with when Disney launches new movies," he said.
The products will be produced at a "recently acquired" -- and now dedicated -- processing plant in Villagarcia de Arousa, which has a capacity of around 4,000 metric tons.
Should the line be a success, Fandicosta wouldn't have any problems to rearrange its production and produce it at other facilities too, Nunez said.
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 1.35 p.m. CET
Compesca top exec: Shrimp sector growing, but processors struggle with market prices
The Spanish shrimp sector didn’t develop smoothly if you look back in history.
“About 15 years ago, the only shrimp we ate was wild, it was a very seasonal product, but when shrimp farming came about this changed,” Joaquin Fernandez, general director at Compesca, told IntraFish.
“Nowadays shrimp is a product that fits the shopping cart prices, it is a treat people can afford more often.”
Despite ups and downs suffered by the sector in the last years due to climate and disease issues such as the whitespot syndrome and, more recently, the Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) affecting production, the industry is experiencing a good moment -- only stained by market prices.
“Sales were continuously increasing from 2005 to 2013, after which they suffered a slight fall, but now they are going up again.”
Compesca sold 2,600 metric tons of shrimp in 2014, and Fernandez expects volumes in 2015 to reach 2,800 metric tons. However, the devaluation of the euro against the dollar is affecting the business.
“We expect to come in flat this year in terms of turnover, regardless of the sales increase,” he said.
“In terms of profitability, currency fluctuations have negatively affected us in 2015, but we expect this to change in the coming months,” Fernandez told IntraFish.
“In June 2014, when we closed negotiations on prices with our buyers, the value of the euro was $1.31, and in November it went to $1.09, this obviously affected us,” Fernandez said.
Compesca operates two plants, one for unprocessed products, and another one for boiled seafood, of which 95 percent is shrimp.
Currently the company exports a small part of its production to the United Kingdom and France, but it is planning to enter further EU markets by 2020, Fernandez said.
--Lola Navarro
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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 12.07 p.m. CET
Spanish frozen supplier revamps logo, looks to expand
After 35 years in business, Salgado Congelados is presenting its new logo at Conxemar 2015 to tackle new markets abroad.
“We are focusing on expansion. To do this, we have among other things changed our logo, making it more international and visual,” Carlos Figueiras, sales executive of the company, told IntraFish.
Salgado has experienced growth in its export markets, he said. At the moment sales outside Spain account for about 35 percent of the total.
In Spain, it sells frozen products such as cod, clams, mussels and squid to wholesalers, and has also smaller contracts with retail outlets such as Alcampo.
“Although the financial crisis did not affect us as much as it affected the sector in general, we think it is necessary to move to new markets,” Figueiras said.
--Lola Navarro
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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 11.55 a.m. CET
Polish whitefish start-up making waves
Importer Nova Seafood -- founded by three experienced Polish seafood executives two years ago -- is raking in its first successes, Lukasz Kibitlewski, co-founder at the firm, said while sitting down with IntraFish on Tuesday morning.
"Last month, we equaled our turnover from last year [€10 million], so we'll definitely exceed it this year," he said. ""That shows the way the company is progressing."
The higher sales were partly down to higher prices for cod, Alaska pollock and saithe, but client relationships are also strong.
Established in 2013 by Kibitlewski, Marcin Kiezik and Darek Jankowiak, Nova Seafood hopes to become one of the leading sea-frozen whitefish and pelagic traders in Poland.
As its main markets, the firm is targeting mainly the domestic one, but Lithuania, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Hungary are also on the list.
But even with future growth the focus will remain on quality, both Kibitlewski and Kiezik said.
"We are not profit-oriented but of course we want to keep our margins high," Kibitlewski told IntraFish. "We're happy with the range we have right now but we would also like to develop other seafood products."
One goal of attending Conxemar -- besides fostering clients relationships -- is to see if any "seafood solutions" can be adapted for the Polish market, he said.
Anything goes, as long as the quality is the right one, Kiezik said.
"We're buying from New Zealand to Chile. What can be sold in Poland, we try to have," he told IntraFish. "But we don't deal with China [double-frozen products]. Sorry, China."
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 11.25 a.m. CET
Iberconsa execs waiting to see how markets react to Pescanova restructuring
Spanish frozen seafood processor and supplier Iberconsa’s Sales Director Fernando Lago said while the Spanish market saw sustained growth over the past few years, everyone is on tenterhooks right now following Pescanova's restructuring.
It is difficult to predict how exactly the market will develop, he told IntraFish.
Iberconsa sells frozen fish to 75 retailers in Galicia alone as a whitefish brand.
“If Pescanova’s sales go down, it could mean that brand consumption is losing importance in Spain,” he said.
In 2014, Iberconsa registered sales of €180 million, and it expects to report a similar turnover in 2015.
“We are constantly renewing, and our plan is to consolidate growth, and to strengthen our activity in the two extremes of the value chain,” he said.
“We’ll improve production by reducing costs, and distribution, and we are trying to get closer to the final user -- these are the two areas we are trying to improve."
The company sells products caught by its 20 vessels in Argentina, Namibia, and South Africa, and sells them into 60 different countries.
It operates three processing plants, and “if we have enough money, we may expand our facilities, it all depends on how things go,” Lago said.
“We are also working on a couple of projects in Argentina to improve fisheries, and we have a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified line in Lidl Spain.”
To Lago, sustainability is an area that will be implemented in Spain at a slow pace, but will eventually also settle in the Spanish market.
“Sustainable product has, for obvious reasons, much more reasons to consolidate in the markets than traditional fish.”
“Maybe people will not pay much higher prices for it, but they will eventually accept an increase in value of certified products,” he said.
--Lola Navarro
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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 10.30 a.m. CET
Tales of price-driven buyers and quality-driven consumers
Royal Greenland has been selling into the Spanish market for more than 20 years, but with only around €10 million of annual sales it's a relatively small part of the overall group business.
Nevertheless, it's been a good and sustained market, Enrique Cordon Scharfhausen, key account manager Spain at Royal Greenland, told IntraFish.
Targeting mainly industrial and foodservice customers, the company sells coldwater shrimp, halibut, snow crab, lumpfish roe and cod into Spain.
"We're trying to become stronger in foodservice," he said. "We tried hard to introduce our products into retail but it's quite difficult. Spanish retail buyers don't trust in good-quality products. They're very price-driven."
Royal Greenland is focusing on its North Atlantic Champion strategy also in Spain, Scharfhausen said, and is looking for partners to cooperate "who share the same values."
When asked about how the price-sensitive Spanish market has swallowed higher coldwater shrimp prices on the back of dropping supplies, Scharfhausen said there was a slight decrease on sales but surprisingly a lot of buyers were willing to pay significantly higher prices.
"Last year, we increased prices by 40 to 45 percent, which was very sudden. We expected sales to drop dramatically but they only went down 7 to 8 percent."
So while retail buyers are price-driven and on the look-out for cheaper produce, the end consumer is still choosing quality over price -- at least when it comes to shrimp, Scharfhausen said.
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 9.00 a.m. CET
Spanish consumers not ready to pay for eco-labels
“It is the Chinese New Year that is dictating the shrimp market,” said Beatriz Aguado, commercial director at Gambafresh.
At the moment, the demand is on the rise, and as the Christmas season gets closer prices are expected to grow even further.
“What we do is to tailor the product to our customers, we sell wild shrimp from Nigeria – we have 92 vessels operating in those waters -- and farmed shrimp from Asia – especially India -- and from South America,” she told IntraFish.
“Then we pack it and sell it to retailers as they request it,” she said.
Gambafresh reported sales of €70 million last year – registering volumes of 12,000 metric tons -- and is showing slow, but continuous progress.
Although the company sells fresh shrimp, its market focuses on frozen product.
“At the moment we sell 50 percent of our product to Spain, and the other 50 goes to southern Europe. Our idea is to expand our facilities in Burgos, to produce more, and to export more, but we are not planning to open new plants,” she said.
In terms of eco-labels and sustainability certifications, Aguado makes a clear – and somehow controversial -- point.
“There are many certifications, and a new one comes up every day. What they are doing is a parallel market; an auditor comes, tells you that everything is right, and the price of the product goes up,” she said.
“It is not worth it, besides, Spanish consumers would not recognize the stamps, let alone pay for them.”
--Lola Navarro
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Monday, Oct. 5, 5.45 p.m. CET
Ecuadorian shrimp prices up 30%
Shrimp prices in Ecuador jumped by about 30 percent across all sizes in the past four to five weeks, Sandro Coglitore, general manager of Omarsa, told IntraFish.
And as purchasing requests ahead of Christmas and Chinese New Year in early February are expected to keep coming in, prices should remain strong, he said.
The reason is generally stronger demand across all markets. "Everyone wants shrimp right now...and buyers are willing to pay," he said.
China remained a major buyer, and business in the United States and Europe is picking up.
This trend might result in a production shift toward bigger sizes, Coglitore said, adding profit margins are lower on smaller sizes.
"We might see lower densities for larger sizes."
Omarsa itself is targeting a turnover of $250 million and is "very on track" to reach a production output of 28,000 to 29,000 metric tons -- up 15 percent from the previous year.
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Monday, Oct. 5, 4.55 p.m. CET
Congalsa celebrates 25th anniversary
There’s a Spanish saying that goes something like “everyone tells the show as we live it,” and that seems to be the case for Spanish supplier Congalsa.
Adrian Sanchez, marketing director at Congalsa, told IntraFish the company won't be showcasing any new products this year -- unlike many other exhibitors.
“We normally come to Conxemar to strengthen relationships, and this year we are also celebrating our 25th anniversary,” he said.
Congalsa has been registering flat sales for the past three years -- it reported an annual turnover of around €70 million a year -- and it’s planning to expand its natural, Clean Label range.
“We are exclusive suppliers of Mercadona, we sell them gluten-free squid a la romana, but this is a difficult market for us, since most of our pre-cooked products are breaded and contain wheat,” Sanchez said.
So far, the company only exports 10 percent of its products to other markets in Europe – mainly the United Kingdom, France, and Germany -- but the plan is to expand to South Africa and Japan, he told IntraFish.
--Lola Navarro
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Monday, Oct. 5, 3.25 p.m. CET
Frozen collaboration done well
Relationships pay off -- especially in fish, as Turkish seabream, seabass and trout producer Penta Seafood knows all too well.
The company has built up a massive market for its trout in Germany, through a partnership with German scallop trading giant PTC.
"Germany has the biggest growth potential for us. They like frozen [fish] and they like trout," Nur Gulsum Ay, export manager at Penta, told IntraFish.
The company produces around 2,600 metric tons of trout every year, and supplies it as frozen whole-round, whole-gutted, fillets, pin-bone-in and pin-bone-out products to PTC, which then distributes it on as private label products to retailers.
Penta, which was founded by Turkish seafood industry veteran Yurdakul Sozeri in 2011, turns over about €35 million on the back of this strong partnership, Ay said.
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Monday, Oct. 5, 3.10 p.m. CET
Isidro de la Cal launches fresh sushi range -- and can't cope with demand
Spanish firm Isidro de la Cal is launching new MAP-packed fresh sushi, with a shelf life of seven days, which it introduced at this year's Conxemar show.
Bit late to jump on the sushi bandwagon? Not really, as Miguel Cabado, marketing director at the company, told IntraFish.
Other than its competitors, Isidro is using fresh fish, instead of the smoked or frozen one used by other companies.
“It is amazing; we cannot supply the demand of the product -- the success is incredible,” Cabado said.
The company has invested in a sushi processing line within its facilities in A Coruna, but despite that it is unable to produce enough.
“We have bought more machines, when we started producing sushi, we did it manually, producing around 150 trays a day, we now are industrialized and sell 3,500 trays in Spain, but demand is double the supply,” he said.
As the exclusive supplier of 22 products for 300 Lidl outlets in Spain – of the 550 existing in the country at the moment -- and 250 in Portugal, Isidro de la Cal is selling less but a more sophisticated product -- and the prices are higher.
The company was bought by a group of directors three years ago, and the current Isidro de la Cal “has nothing to do with what it used to be," Cabado said.
And the plan is to expand, as new machinery is already ordered and a market expansion is on the agenda, he told IntraFish.
--Lola Navarro
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Monday, Oct. 5, 2.50 p.m. CET
Russian ban? What Russian ban?
The news that Russia is banning all seafood imports from Iceland hit like a bomb this summer -- but Iceland is coping alright, Helgi Anton Eirksson, CEO at Icelandic Seafood International (ISI), told IntraFish.
"As an industry we've managed quite well," he said.
New markets were found in Europe, eastern Europe and Asia, and even though it had some impact on prices, everyone "is relatively okay with it."
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Monday, Oct. 5, 1.30 p.m. CET
Gluten-free products filling up the shelves
I am sure the term 'gluten-free' is something you are already familiar with.
A few years back only celiac people were concerned about this protein composite, but it seems consumers are increasingly affected by the adverse effects of it... and so are companies.
Spanish processor Cabomar started its gluten-free range a year ago with its squid rings, but the company has now introduced more than 10 new products within this market, including breaded hake-fillets, hake fingers, and battered shrimp.
"Markets are moving toward more healthy food, gluten-free demand is increasing massively and companies need to be competitive in this sector,” Laura Martinez, marketing director at Cabomar, told IntraFish.
The company – which is also presenting its new frozen cod fillets in different formats at this year’s Conxemar show -- registered a turnover of €45 million last year, and it is expecting to increase this figure by 20 percent in 2015.
--Lola Navarro
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Monday, Oct. 5, 12.40 p.m. CET
Saucy Fish 'me-too' brand Mr. Fisk growing strongly
Scanfisk's Mr. Fisk brand -- a Saucy Fish 'me-too' brand discovered by this IntraFish journalist at Conxemar 2014 -- has seen a successful first year, after launching into the Spanish market in summer 2014.
"We are now present in most retailers in Spain," Jorge Alonso, commercial and marketing director at the company, told IntraFish, adding the brand can be found at Carrefour, Alcampo, Simply Market and others.
Now, the company is looking to expand the frozen convenience brand into other European markets such as Germany and Italy, as well as into Asia.
"We recently signed a contract with a partner in Macao," Alonso said.
Scanfisk will report sales of about €50 million in the current financial year -- of this, around €10 million will come from the Mr. Fisk brand.
But while in northern Europe the trend goes towards more convenience, the Spanish and Portuguese markets are different, Alonso said.
"It is weird. There is now a trend at retailers to return to the roots, and to focus on fresh fish offered at counters," he told IntraFish. "Producers now need to work together to convince them the future is in convenience."
Scanfisk is committed to developing the brand further, he said, adding in the future quarterly new product launches are planned.
"Mr. Fisk is not only a trade product but a new concept with the goal to give consumers a new and healthy way to eat fish," Alonso said.
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Monday, Oct. 5, 12.20 p.m. CET
Angulas Aguinaga now banking on mussels, salmon
Spanish surimi producer Angulas Aguinaga is introducing a new "star product" at this year's Conxemar show, as it is seeing growing demand from Spain, Italy and France, Elena Baz, marketing director at the firm, told IntraFish Monday.
The mussels are caught in the Rias Gallegas, and packed and processed by Galician company Linamar.
The products will be introduced into France and Italy, and microwavable recipes include mussels in their own juice, in tomato sauce, and marinara style.
In Spain, the company is betting on a larger range of live, “already cleaned” mussels, to be sold only to fish markets, and some boiled mussels to be sold to retailers.
“The biggest news is the cocotte format, resembling the traditional French style of serving mussels,” Baz said.
An already settled market is salmon, she said.
Angulas Aguinaga packs and sells fresh salmon and sells it into Portugal and Spain after inking a deal with Norwegian salmon giant Marine Harvest.
“With a 50/50 participation, Angulas Aguinaga and Marine Harvest created Northern Seafood," Baz told IntraFish.
"We sell high-quality smoked, fresh, and marinated Norwegian salmon under the brand Olavs, and have a 4 percent growth year-on-year in this market,” she said.
--Lola Navarro
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Monday, Oct. 5, 11.50 a.m. CET
Turkish bass, bream powerhouse targets future growth
Bass and bream producer Kopuzmar is targeting a turnover of €40 million in the current financial year, on the back of a favorable mix of stronger and more stable pricing, increased production and processing capacity, and good demand from its main markets, Ismail Aksoy, commercial director at the company, told IntraFish.
In 2011, the company reported sales worth €26.5 million.
Overall, the industry in Turkey is growing, he said, and "getting financially stronger" after "everyone suffered" in the past few years.
This gives companies the opportunity to invest in quality and value-added processing, he added.
Kopuzmar -- which was snapped up by private equity firm Mediterra Capital two years ago -- is producing around 5,000 metric tons of fish -- up from around 2,000 metric tons in 2013 -- and of this, 70 to 80 percent is seabass.
Around 80 to 85 percent of the company's production goes into frozen VAP processing, with its main markets in Italy and the United Kingdom.
In total, it trades around 7,200 metric tons of finished products every year, buying from carefully chosen sub-contractors in addition to its own production.
Growing demand is also coming from Russia, North Africa and the Middle East, Aksoy said.
Further production growth might be on the agenda, but will happen "step-by-step."
Kopuzmar has now production licenses for about 7,200 metric tons of bass and bream, and is also planning to step up its juvenile production from currently 30 to 33 million.
"We have the capacity to produce 70 million juveniles -- but again this growth will happen slowly over time," Aksoy told IntraFish.
Being part of Mediterra has been "very good," he said. When asked if another change of ownership is in the cards, Aksoy answered the reason Mediterra invested was to sell Kopuzmar again.
But it would be difficult to say when. "It took them 1.5 years to understand the business, and we have production cycles of around two years," he said. So it might be another few years.
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Monday, Oct. 5, 11.30 a.m. CET
Expalsa growing on China demand
Ecuadorian shrimp producer Expalsa is seeing continuously growing demand from Asia and Europe, still reaping in the benefits from Asia's supply crisis, Juan Carlos Garcia, international sales executive at the firm, told IntraFish Monday morning.
Japan and China are particularly interesting, he said. Increasing mortality issues and a bad season due to bad weather in China itself is opening up new opportunities, and Expalsa is ready to jump in.
"Those will be growth markets," he said.
The United States, on the other hand, is still developing slowly, as buyers are hesitant and "cannot afford the [Ecuadorian] prices," Garcia said.
Expalsa exports around 200 containers of shrimp in various sizes every month.
--Elisabeth Fischer
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Monday, Oct. 5, 9.00 a.m. CET
Southern Europe's frozen seafood industry descends on Vigo
IntraFish is back in Vigo, Spain, to cover this year's Conxemar Spanish frozen seafood exhibition, which is set to take place over the next three days in the IFEVI conference center.
The exhibitors' list is diverse and so will be the visitors, as the events in previous years have shown.
Last year, the city hosted the World Shrimp Congress but this year all eyes will be on the International Fisheries Stakeholders Forum, which will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Code of Conduct of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
Organized by the FAO, Conxemar and the Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Environment of Spain, the two-day conference will look at world production of tuna, whitefish and groundfish, shrimp and cephalopods, highlight consumption and trade of fishery and aquaculture products, and discuss consumer awareness towards responsible fishing.
In addition, delegates will hear about fisheries management and fishing right, the current situation and outlook of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, as well as sustainability and certification.
We're excited to see you at the show and conference!
--Elisabeth Fischer
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