Norway charts Operation UK

The Norwegian seafood industry has launched an all-out assault on the UK market, and it’s the lucrative whitefish sector that’s at the forefront of the Scandinavians’ ambitions in 2012.

Speaking at a special Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) dinner and briefing in London on 16 January, Johan Kvalheim, NSC director for France and the UK, said that over the next 12 months there would be a lot of activities promoting Norwegian seafood products to drive UK consumption. 

Paris-based Kvalheim said the NSC has set aside a monetary budget of GBP 700,000 (EUR 840,000, USD 1.1 million) this year mainly to market to the UK fish-and-chip shop industry and HoReCa (hotel, restaurant and catering) trade, and to make “a lot of noise” in the marketplace about the sustainability of Norwegian fish, particularly through its UK branding concept “Fisk.Forever,” launched last year.

“The big three things for us this year are to build our share of the UK cod market from 12.5 percent to 15 percent, our share of haddock from 21 percent to 25 percent, and also to grow the share for Norwegian prawns,” said Kvalheim.

Terje Martinussen, NSC managing director, said, in terms of export figures, the UK was the seventh biggest market for Norwegian seafood last year at a value of GBP 266 million (EUR 319.2 million, USD 410.2 million). In value terms, the main exports were farmed salmon at GBP 128 million, whitefish at GBP 100 million, pelagics at GBP 17 million and shrimp at GBP 16 million. And, in volume terms, haddock was the No. 1 export at 30,000 metric tons, said Martinussen, who added that the actual figures for the UK should be higher because a lot of Norwegian seafood enters the market via Denmark.

The total value of Norwegian seafood exports was GBP 6.7 billion (EUR 8 billion, USD 10.3 billion) in 2011. Russia was Norway’s biggest seafood export market at a value of GBP 550 million (EUR 660.2 million, USD 848 million), followed by France, Denmark, Poland, Japan, China, Sweden, Germany and Portugal. Exporting to 130 countries, Norway is the world’s No. 2 seafood exporter.

Martinussen attributed much of this international success to the active marketing that takes place in about 20 countries. In fact, the UK is Norway’s biggest market not to have a dedicated NSC office. 

The NSC is a key sponsor of the Seafish-organized National Fish & Chip Awards, which aligns the council with one of its main industry targets. It has also just appointed celebrity chef Mitch Tonks as its Norwegian seafood ambassador for the UK market. Tonks told SeafoodSource that he’s delighted with the role and the “opportunity to tell UK consumers about the huge quantities of sustainable Marine Stewardship Council whitefish that’s available from Norwegian boats fishing in the Barents Sea.”

In the meantime, the Norwegian seafood industry has received a boost from UK retailer Waitrose, which announced at the NSC event that it would be expanding its “Super Fresh” whitefish offering from Norway to include cod.

Emma Hatton, buying manager for Waitrose, said through its dedicated supplier Sealord Caistor Ltd., alongside Carisma (UK) Ltd. and Aalesundfish in Norway, the supermarket chain has been sourcing Aalesundfish’s Super Fresh haddock, which is packed and shipped within just a few hours of being caught.

“Our customers are very conscious about buying high-quality, sustainable fish. Because of the continuity of that sustainable supply, we are adding Norwegian cod to our supply base,” said Hatton.

In the UK market, Waitrose has been a leader in promoting sustainable seafood. It’s also a big seller of Icelandic seafood, particularly cod and haddock. This deal, therefore, is being regarded by the NSC as something of a coup for Norway.

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