Thursday, Oct.3, 4.25 p.m. CET
Conservatism pays off in Spain
Being a conservative company has paid off for Spanish import and trading company Inlet, Eino Brand, managing director at the company, told IntraFish.
The company “managed to grow a little bit,” this year. Selling only with credit insurance to its about 400 active customers is holding curbing the potential for growth but “we don’t like uncontrolled growth.”
In the process, the company lost about 80 to 90 customers but was able to replace them with new clients, and reported a turnover of €30 million ($40.6 million) last year.
Inlet was "completely unaffected" by Pescanova’s downfall, as it never traded directly or indirectly with the firm, Brand said.
He, however, welcomes the change in how business is done now. “In the past not everyone was playing by the same rules, and now they have to.”
Easy financing and government subsidies are over and one should focus now on communicating the good news over the bad, he said.
“I welcome this development very much.”
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Thursday, Oct. 3, 4.15 p.m. CET
SIPA looks to cut membership fees
The Seafood Importers and Processors Alliance (SIPA), the brainchild of Inlet MD Eino Brand, is looking to cut its membership fees.
The association has currently 26 members – including independent companies and national industry associations – a drop from previously 51.
“Membership fees were simply too high,” Brand said. A board vote on the new fees will be happening in the next few weeks.
Brand is envisioning annual fees of €3,000 ($4,057) for national association, €750 ($1,014) for independent members and €500 ($676.1) for associated members (companies part of a national association).
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Thursday, Oct. 3, 12.15 p.m. CET
What's the limit for shrimp prices?
Mafer Gallardo, commercial manager at Ecuadorian shrimp exporter Songa, didn't have an answer to this question when IntraFish stopped by the company's booth on Thursday.
"It's been a very particular year. One third of the worldwide production is gone" she said, adding it's the first time prices are that high. "Not even during the whitespot crisis prices were this high. They doubled for some sizes and went up by another 30 percent in the last few months."
She's confident prices won't go down until about April-June next year but how high they can go is uncertain. "But we're confident the price won't come down."
The company, which projects a production output of 19,000 metric tons this year (up from 16,000 metric tons last year), is seeing an "accumulation of different demands."
Europe is getting ready to buy for the upcoming holiday season, after that China will be looking for shrimp for the Chinese New Year in February, and buyers in the United States are resuming imports after the planned countervailing duties were shot down earlier this month.
Life is sweet if you're one of the 'healthy' shrimp producers these days, it seems.
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Thursday, Oct. 3, 8.40 a.m. CET
There's money to be made ... in conger eel
Japan is the No. one market for conger eel, and with a little value-adding here and there companies can see big bucks rolling in.
Humberto Olivera, chief commercial officer at Peruvian fishing company Perupez, said buyers in Japan fork out about $8 (€5.90) per kilo of frozen conger eel. If it's cooked, the price goes up to $12 (€8.90) per kilo. With a little Japanese-style seasoning, buyers are even willing to pay up to $32 (€23.70) per kilo.
Japan is still the biggest market for the company, but Olivera said demand from the United States is growing. "Japanese sushi bars and restaurants are booming, it's very on trend," he said.
The company also catches scallops, anchovy, jack mackerel, tuna, hake, and giant squid with its nine boats. Value-adding is happening at is own processing facility near Lima, Peru.
In total, it exports 60 containers per months, with a monthly capacity of 2,000 metric tons. Turnover for the company in 2012 came to $14 million (€10.4 million), but it is targeting sales of $24 million (€17.7 million) this year.
When asked about scallop prices, Olivera said they "could be higher." The company fetches about $7 (€5.20) per kilo for smaller sizes (half-shelf), $7.5 (€5.60) for medium-sized scallops and $8 (€5.90) for the bigger sizes.
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Thursday, Oct. 3., 8.09 a.m. CET
French fishing port co-op sees boost in landings
Cornouaille Fishing Port, a cooperation of seven fishing ports in France, landed 55,893 metric tons of fish and seafood last year, coming to a total market value of €148 million ($200.1 million) -- an indicator the project is paying off, as Anne-Sophie Thomas, spokesperson for the co-op, said.
It is now the second biggest fishing port in France after Boulogne-sur-Mer, with both Spanish and French vessels landing their catch along the coast of Brittany.
Landings and auction sales varied from port to port, but Le Guilvinec Harbor is perhaps the biggest one, she said.
In 2012, 19,628 metric tons of fish were landed, up from 19,232 metric tons the previous year. Monkfish, haddock, skate, cod and megrim were the most landed species.
Monkfish alone fetched a value of €22.93 million ($31 million) at the local auction. The total value of fish landed at the port came to €67 million ($90.6 million), down from €68.9 million ($93.2 million) last year.
Investments are key to the continuous success for the cooperation, Thomas said. Every year, the association (CCI Quimper Cornouaille in French) re-invests €5 million ($6.8 million) in the facilities.
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Wednesday, Oct. 2, 5.42 p.m. CET
Omarsa feeding on Asian shrimp crisis
Ecuadorian shrimp producer Omarsa saw its sales increase 20 percent this year, with buyers scrambling for product.
Demand is coming from all corners of the world, Sandro Coglitore, general manager at the company, told IntraFish at Conxemar 2013.
"Demand is crazy from all over the world. Even producing countries [in Asia] are demanding shrimp for reprocessing and for domestic consumption," he said.
At the same time, prices for the company's products increased 70 to 80 percent throughout the year, he said, all due to the shortage from Asia.
The company, which targets a production of above 22,000 metric tons by the end of this year, is now seeing 55 percent of its production going to China, 20 percent to the United States and "the rest into Europe," Coglitore said.
Nevertheless, producers in Ecuador have to be "concerned. Diseases travel fast," he told IntraFish. At the same time he is optimistic as farmers learned their lessons from the whitespot disease, and now have lower stocking densities and a lower feed conversion ratio -- but produce more.
"Ecuador is a sure bet for everyone," Coglitore said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 2, 5.17 p.m. CET
And the winner is...
Pescanova! For the most talked about topic on the Conxemar show floor, that is.
Be it talk about the "Pescanova effect" in Vigo and the whole of Spain, complaints about the size of its booth (or three booths if one wants to be correct and include the two of Pescafina Bacalao and Pescanova Alimentacion), new opportunities arising from the company's crisis, and what new angles to the scandal will be revealed next.
And of course the biggest question of it all: What does the new president Juan Manuel Urgoiti look like? IntraFish hasn't spotted him yet but rumor has it he was here Tuesday to meet some of the company's clients.
To be continued...
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Wednesday, Oct. 2, 3.23 p.m. CET
Irish shellfish company eyes growth in China, United States
Shellfish De-La-Mer, an Irish fishing company with five vessels, is looking for growth in the Far East and the United States.
Competition in the stagnating European markets is growing bigger, which is why the move to other markets is a logical one, Richard Murphy, managing director at the company, said.
"Everyone is going into Europe so it would be nice to open up new markets," he told IntraFish. "China has the population and the money -- and they want the food."
To tackle the market it opened a sales office in Shanghai two years ago and is making "good progress."
The company offers crab, shrimp, mussels, hake, cod as well as farmed Irish salmon. At its facility on Dinish Island, in the south-west of Ireland, it also produces value-added products such as flavored shrimp and breaded crab.
The challenge now is to grow, Murphy said, adding it upped its sales by about 15 percent so far this year compared to 2012. The company supplies about 2,500 metric tons of products every year.
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Wednesday, Oct. 2, 1.22 p.m. CET
Vicinuai: Dreaming of brands
Lithuanian surimi giant Viciuanai Group is aiming to build up its brand in western Europe, namely in Spain and France.
For that purpose, it will launch three branded frozen products in Spain, as well as a larger range in France, as Rob Schreur, sales and marketing director for Europe, told IntraFish.
In Spain, it has bagged a contract with a "major retailer," which will run the three new products, consisting of one breaded and one conventional surimi product, as well as a breaded fish product.
In France, the company will launch a larger chilled range in the next four weeks, Schreur said. "It's a very big step for the company," he said. "It's a dream of our shareholders to become a big global brand."
The company started penetrating the western markets in 2000, however, faced big competition especially in France with Coraya and Fleury Michon, which is why it focused on private label.
"The time is right to build up our brand in Spain and France," Scheur said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 2, 12.31 p.m. CET
Thai shrimp prices keep rising
Shrimp prices in Thailand are still rising as the early mortality syndrome (EMS) saga continues, Jim Gulkin, managing director at Siam Canadian, told IntraFish when we stopped by the company's booth.
For 60 pieces buyers have to fork out THB 267 (€6.30/$8.50) today, while a month ago -- on Sept. 2 -- they paid THB 232 (€5.50/$7.40), Gulkin said.
For 70 pieces, prices have jumped from THB 221 (€5.20/$7.10) last month to THB 255 (€6/$8.20) today, while prices for 80 pieces now stand at THB 243 (€5.80/$7.80), up from THB 208 (€4.90/$6.70) on Sept. 2.
"We're still seeing big jumps, even though prices are leveling off a little bit now," Gulkin said. Prices for raw materials are about above $2 (€1.50) over contracts, he said. But despite that, factories are "going aggressively" after the raw material.
He expects a total production output of 250,000 metric tons for the full year of 2013. If the industry can get back on track, production could rise again to 400,000-450,000 next year, but he expects it will take "two to three years" before it's back to normal levels of about 600,000 metric tons.
"It's been a struggle and it's still not clear when the EMS issue is going to be solved," he said, adding there is, however, some light at the end of the tunnel, but "very spotty."
Siam Canadian's business is nevertheless strong, Gulkin told IntraFish. "We've been fine as a group. Fortunately, we're spread out across Asia." Indonesia, India, Vietnam and China have been faring better, he said.
Volume is down, but the dollar value is up 10 to 12 percent. For the year to date, the company saw sales of $225 million (€166.4 million), up from $209 million (€154.6 million) in the same period last year.
Gulkin hopes to break the $300 million (€221.9 million) mark this year, but is sure the year will end up profitable.
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Wednesday, Oct. 2, 8.05 a.m. CET
Icelandic Iberica charting growth path
Icelandic Iberica is seeing opportunities for growth in southern and central Europe -- both organically and through further investments, Jon Gardar Godmundsson, deputy CEO at Icelandic Group, told IntraFish at Conxemar 2013.
"We're starting to explore our opportunities further," he said. The group has been investing in Belgium -- through the acquisition of processor Gadus -- and most recently in Iceland, where it signed a letter of intent with processor Ny-Fiskur this week.
"We have a strong base and we're interested in exploring our opportunities," he said, which have come with the financial turmoil many companies are facing today.
The company, which has a turnover of above €80 million ($108.2 million) in Spain, Portugal, Italy and France, is seeing "sound sales" in the region, despite the difficult financial times, also said Hjorleifur Asgeirsson, director general at Icelandic Iberica.
While the market in Spain is more consolidated, he sees the biggest growth opportunities in France and Italy. The group opened a new distribution center earlier this year in France, and it is looking at a similar set-up in Italy if the time is right.
"Time will tell," Asgeirsson told IntraFish. The market in Italy is "uncomplicated and starting to function," he said. "We will consider that in the future."
All in all, the two see a trend toward cheaper products in the market, with loins and center cuts more difficult to sell due to the prices.
Both, however, see opportunities arising from the Pescanova crisis. "Retailers are looking for alternatives, which is an opportunity for us," Asgeirsson said.
One negative side-effect, echoed by many other companies, is that the banking sector is very "alert. They are badly burnt," as Asgeirsson told IntraFish. "In the coming months they will look closely into their customers' portfolio.
"It means there are opportunities for us," he said.
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Wednesday, Oct. 2, 7.10 a.m. CET
Tackling frozen fish
Findus Spain -- part of Young's Seafood Limited parent Findus Group -- is the Spanish market leader in frozen food, but its frozen fish segment is still quite young.
Up until a couple of years ago the company's focus was solely on vegetables, pizzas and fries, but when the group re-acquired the brand in Spain in 2011 (which was previously licensed to Ardo in 2005), fish was on the menu.
Today, the company supplies frozen breaded hake and cod, as well as frozen cut salmon, cod and hake fillets, in addition to frozen sushi, Alberto Larrayoz, group manager at the company, told IntraFish.
Findus' total frozen market share in fish comes to about 1 percent in retail, and accounts for about 5 to 10 percent of its retail sales. With most of the frozen Spanish market in turmoil, the company is now "using the moment to push its products. And we are selling," he said.
Funnily enough, the company just entered the market with its products when Pescanova's troubles started, Larrayoz said. If sales have however been influenced by the "Pescanova effect" he couldn't tell.
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Tuesday, Oct. 1, 3.22 p.m. CET
'Vaccination' against financial woes
Spanish frozen tuna importer Lumar's liquidity issues from earlier this year -- resolved through an agreement with investor group Kimi Luxembourg in April -- turned out to be not as bad as expected.
"We went through a difficult time," Alberto Romero Bermo, director of sourcing and sustainability at Lumar Seafood International, told IntraFish. "In retrospect, it was like a vaccination for when you are ill."
The company now feels stronger and "very able" to pick up the projects it started before all the financial trouble. The main focus now is to go out and tout the company is still alive, Romero said.
"When you go through something like this your clients begin to wonder 'can I count on them?'" he said.
Product-wise, the company is looking to put further focus on its Kids line, a project started last year.
Romero also sees some relief coming from the tuna sector itself. Prices for both yellowfin and bigeye are "slowly going down" after reaching "astronomical levels" earlier this year.
"Fishing is good and at least there is some stability in the market," he said.
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Tuesday, Oct. 1, 1.54 p.m. CET
Pescanova introduces new sushi line
The products, which use salmon, shrimp and surimi as their base, will hit retail shelves in about one month, Cristina Fernandez Munoz, marketing director at the company, told IntraFish.
When asked how retailers reacted to the new line, she said "confidence in the brand" is still there and it will be listed in most major Spanish retailers.
"We continue to work normally. We have the trust of our consumers, which is the most important thing and keeps operations going," she said.
Consumers "don't understand" what is going on at the company and the brand continues to have a strong market presence. "Finances are one thing, our customer relationships another," Fernandez Munoz said.
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Tuesday, Oct. 1, 12.52 p.m. CET
Pollock surimi booms in Spain
Alaskan pollock exports to Spain have boomed, with surimi seeing a surge in market demand, a busy David McClellan, marketing representative Spain for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI), told IntraFish in a quick break.
"They need our pollock for its high quality," he said. "We have some of our most loyal customers in Spain."
Cod is the second-most imported product from Alaska to Spain, Portugal and Italy, he said, before rushing off to his next appointment.
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Tuesday, Oct. 1, 12.42 p.m. CET
Italian fresh seafood giant ventures into frozen
Fiorital, Italy's biggest fresh seafood supplier, is venturing into frozen and is seeing good results at the country's biggest retailers, which include Auchan, Carrefour, Conad, Coop and more.
"We were born as fresh but frozen is growing," Edward Gonnet, sales manager at the company, told IntraFish.
The company, which sells about 300 containers of 24 metric tons each year, mainly trades in hake, pangasius, warmwater shrimp from both South America and Asia, cuttlefish, seabream and squid.
Demand in Italy -- and Spain -- is good, he said but "the economic situation is not easy. But we can work because we can pay for our raw materials," he said.
To reduce risk for its business, the company severed ties from customers who were unable to pay for what they buy. "We have had a lot of change in our customers," Gonnet said. "That's why we haven't grown our sales but remained stable."
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Tuesday, Oct. 1, 12.20 p.m. CET
Spanish credit crunch
The financial situation has had its victims in Spain -- also in the seafood sector, with Pescanova and Freiremar fishing group just two of the more well-known examples.
As a result banks have shut down on financing and are reviewing loans and credits more carefully, Alejandro Lavadores Cervantes, who works in the commercial department at Spanish firm Pescapuerta, said.
"We have to finance ourselves," he told IntraFish, when we stopped by the company's booth. Pescapuerta has become stricter with credit lines for its clients. "We have to be careful," he said. "But we're starting to see the end of the tunnel."
Sales are going well under the circumstances, even though clients buy more on short-term contracts. Hake and hake fillets, as well as squid and shrimp are still the top sellers, Lavadores Cervantes said.
While its biggest clients are in Spain, as well as eastern Europe (Ukraine, Russia), the company is now looking to expand to the Far East, and is looking for new customers in China and Japan.
"They pay better prices than our customers in Spain," Lavadores Cervantes said, adding products are being sent directly from its suppliers to the clients.
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Monday, Sept. 30, 7.23 p.m. CET
Pangasius: All eyes on sustainability
The list of challenges facing the Vietnamese pangasius sector is a long one.
Production control and management, vertical integration of the value chain, increased feed prices, efficient pond waste water and sludge treatment, the lack of appropriate vaccines, lowering export prices due to exporters' competition, the anti-dumping case in the United States, as well as a "certification jungle" are perhaps the biggest ones, Nguyen Huu Dzung, vice president at the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said.
A range of new initiatives are now set to help the ailing sector, including the Establishing a Sustainable Pangasius supply chain in Vietnam (SUPA) project and the Vietnamese Danish Aquaculture Technology Excellence Center, short VIDATEC.
The cooperation between the two countries "aspires to create a true collaboration between authorities, research facilities, companies, financing institutes and industrial associations related to aquaculture," Huu Dzung said.
It is set to provide a new network platform for all stakeholders from both countries, with a focus on the whole supply chain.
Setting up a new distribution center in Zeebrugge, Belgium, is a further step towards a more regulated sector, Huu Dzung told the audience. The center, which is set to open doors in 2014, will combine all supplies from Vietnamese producers and sell them through one channel by "using an electronic auction."
This will ensure higher quality -- and no water in the fillets, as Huu Dzung pointed out -- more transparency in volume and price, centralized control over the logistics chain and bring fair prices and healthy margins for everyone involved.
Fighting the dropping EU imports is on top of VASEP's agenda for pangasius. Over the last five years pangasius imports in the Union dropped significantly from a value of $581 million (€429.7 million) in 2008 to $426 million (€315 million) in 2012,
At the same time, the region's market share halved from 48 percent to 24.4 percent in 2012. This trend continued into 2013, with the United States overtaking the EU for the first time as the biggest importer with 23.2 percent and 22.4 percent market share in the time between January and August, respectively.
"It is now time to change," Huu Dzung said.
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Monday, Sept. 30, 5.47 p.m. CET
Norwegian cod exports shoot up
Hempel showed a graph during his presentation, reflecting the Norwegian cod's success story in 2013. Up until June 2013, Norway supplied 36,126 metric tons of cod to its export markets -- more than double from the 18,042 metric tons in first six months of the previous year.
Denmark was by far the biggest importing country with 9,530 metric tons, followed by Sweden (1,924 metric tons), France (1,330 metric tons) and the United Kingdom (989 metric tons).
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Monday, Sept. 30, 5.35 p.m. CET
Whitefish, diversify!
In an engaging presentation, Erik Hempel, marketing specialist at Hempel Consult, urged the audience to diversify their whitefish offers.
"Low prices [for cod, pangasius, Alaska pollock] offer us possibilities," he told the audience. "What can we do to make money? Diversification," both in terms of products and markets.
"There is not enough focus on product development," he said. "Add value. It doesn’t mean you have to add cost."
In addition, the industry should look at other markets, step out of its comfort zone it enjoys in Europe and North America and finally focus on Asia. What is needed is a generic marketing tool for all suppliers and processors to promote the species in new markets.
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Monday, Sept. 30, 3.45 p.m. CET
Hake an economical driver in Namibia
The Namibian hake industry is generating about $173 million (€127.9 million) to Namibia's GDP of $12.81 billion (€9.5 billion), Peya Hitula, managing director at Tunacor, said.
Fisheries in total account for about 5 percent of the country's GDP, he said, describing it as an "employment creator."
Nevertheless, the hake industry is facing continuous issues, including an aging fleet and processing facilities. In the current economic climate it's difficult to get loans from banks too, he said.
Market stagnation is adding to the mix, but "we're hoping that will improve in the future," Hitula said.
Namibia's hake quote for 2013 is set at 170,000 metric tons, slightly down from 180,000 metric tons last year and up from 140,000 metric tons in 2011. In the first six months of the year, 59,603 metric tons were caught.
Usually, hake vessels exploit the quota by about 90 percent every year.
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Monday, Sept. 30, 3.23 p.m. CET
South Africa: Plenty of hake but catch challenging
While South Africa's hake stock has seen a remarkable recovery from the difficult years of 2004-2006, this year has been challenging nevertheless.
After reporting record catch rates in 2011, South Africa's fishing vessels are struggling to catch all of the 156,000 metric tons quota set for this year, Felix Ratheb, sales and marketing director at Sea Harvest, said.
"Catch rates have been lower driven by a very severe winter, and colder water temperatures," he told the audience at the congress. "There is plenty of hake down there but catching it is a different story."
This year, the industry has also seen higher levels of by-catch of angel fish, with no market to sell to, he said.
Regarding the quota for next year, he is in line with other South African companiesIntraFish talked to, saying it is expected to be "somewhere between 155,000 and 175,000 metric tons."
The company, which turns 50 years in 2014, is the country's biggest quota holder with 40 percent.
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Monday, Sept. 30, 2.30 p.m. CET
NZ wants foreign vessels out; looks at further increase in hoki TAC
New Zealand is looking to change its legislation on foreign vessels fishing in Kiwi waters, William Emerson, principal advisor, international fisheries management at the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries said.
The intention is to phase out foreign vessels completely by 2016, he said. Around 1,400 vessels are currently fishing for hoki around the two New Zealand islands -- mostly from New Zealand, Ukraine and Korea.
This comes at a time when the supply outlook for hoki is "unlikely to change," Emerson said. The TAC for 2014 is expected to be set at 150,000 metric tons, as indicated by the minister "a couple of days ago."
About 70 percent of the industry is in favor of an increase, however, 30 percent would like to keep the current level of 130,000 metric tons.
The reason? 130,000 is a "sweet stock" where fish is easy to catch and the market offers good prices, Emerson said.
Hoki accounts for the third largest "export earner" with an annual value of about NZD 200 million (€122 million/$164.9 million) in the country's total seafood sales overseas, which are valued at NZD 1.5 billion (€914.8 million/$1.2 billion). China is now the top export destination, followed by Australia and the European Union (EU), which is quite a recent development, Emerson said.
The majority is exported in frozen form from fillets to H&G.
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Monday, Sept. 30. 2.05 p.m. CET
South American whitefish in crisis
South American fisheries have seen a decrease in catch and stock across Peru, Chile and Argentina, Alejandro Zuleta, scientific director, Center for Fisheries Studies, told the audience at the Whitefish Congress in Vigo.
"The most obvious message -- and it's not a positive one -- is that the most stocks in South America are in a state of overfishing," he said.
"So far recovery policies have not shown the expected results. The general trend is that the management of the fisheries are quite challenging and lag behind."
This was mirrored by Eduardo Bruce, director general for Friosur, Chile, who said overall catches in Chile are half of what they were in 2001. For common hake, the total allowable catch (TAC) for 2012 is set at 40,000 metric tons.
Also hoki hake, which stands at a current quota of 60,000 metric tons, dropped significantly from 180,000 metric tons in the early 2000s. "It's been a very significant decrease," he said.
Much of it used to go into fishmeal production, which has been halted by government regulations. The industry is now concentrating on fillets, surimi and H&G.
Adding to the mix is a general weakness in the Spanish market -- which accounts for about 94 percent of total whitefish exports -- and as a consequence sales are dropping, and are now half of what they were five years ago, Bruce said.
Oscar Fortunato, president of the Argentinian Fisheries Business Council was similarly negative. Stocks are moving further south, which are increasing fuel and labor costs for the industry.
He urged the industry to focus on giving greater value to its products.
"We have to enhance the value of the product to make it more acceptable," he said. "Not only in terms of price but in terms of value adding."
Different products, new packagings, and 100 percent natural fish products with no additives are the route to go, he suggested.
In addition, he urged the industry to follow a more dynamic and realistic approach to the fishery, which can affect regulations.
"The criteria must be strict and aiming for a sustainable approach in fishing," he said.
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Monday, Sept. 30, 11.59 a.m. CET
Do richer people eat more fish?
Income growth, urbanization and product development are the main drivers for the global growth in fish consumption, Audun Lem, head of products, trade and marketing branch at FAO said in his keynote speech.
This is nothing new and has been mentioned many times, but what is more exciting is that with the growth in population, comes growth in income, he said.
"People are becoming richer, not only in Europe and the US but also in Asia, Middle East. This will influence fish consumption just as much as growth in population," he said.
Current average production levels of fish are at about 29 kilograms per capita, and trade has risen in the same pace.
In terms of whitefish, traditional groundfish species such as cod, hake, pollock and haddock are still dominating the market, especially in the United States and Europe.
However, farmed whitefish species are growing quickly, especially tilapia and pangasius, despite some difficulties of penetrating the European market.
What is also surprising is that fish trade is growing faster than production, Lem said.
"That means supply chains are becoming longer, traceability concerns are growing along with consumer concerns about food safety. Consumers in India, Africa and China are just as concerned as we are in Europe."
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Monday, Sept. 30, 9.57 a.m. CET
Wild vs. farmed
Aquaculture will have to grow two and a half times up to 2030 to ensure stability of the overall supply of fish, compared to current levels, Arni Mathiesen, assistant director general of the fisheries and aquaculture department of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.
"It's extremely important to battle poverty and overcome the lack of food," he told the audience at the Whitefish Congress during his opening remark.
Wild capture on the other hand is seeing increasing competition from aquaculture and might lose out in value, he said. Nevertheless, it will always have the potential to grow and be the most important sector in the industry.
In his speech, he also stressed the value of the industry, talking about a "blue economy strategy we urgently need to attend to."
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Monday, Sept. 30, 8.00 a.m. CET
Vigo is calling again
The Galician town of Vigo is calling out once again to international seafood execs, only a few weeks after the Worldwide Tuna Conference took place in the Spanish seafood hub.
The annual Conxemar trade show is a meeting point for frozen seafood delegates from all over the world.
This year's show kickstarts one day early with the Whitefish World Congress -- and while many are still working on getting their booths ready for the show, fisheries ministers, FAO experts and industry execs will analyze resources, markets, supply and utilization of the most important species of whitefish at the one-day event.
The program includes a full panel of experts from top producing countries, including Russia, Norway, Iceland, Canada, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Namibia, South Africa, New Zealand and China.
Click here for the full program. See you at the show!
