Despite the challenges Alaska pollock suppliers are facing this B season, American Seafoods’ sales are strong and executives’ outlook for the future is positive.
The Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based processor of pollock, surimi, fish oil, Pacific hake and more is having a rough pollock fishing season, Chief Commercial Officer Rasmus Soerensen told SeafoodSource. The fish are smaller and the yields are “not as good” as previous years, he said.
“2018 had a large school of fish … now those fish are existing the fishery,” Soerensen said. "We have a younger fish, a lot of smaller fish … which complicates production and yields.”
On the other hand, fishermen are seeing a lot of Alaska pollock, so there are “good things to come for the fishery” when the fish are larger, Rasmus said, adding that the smaller sizes this year were expected.
While Alaska pollock's price has been stronger this year, American Seafoods is working with its “bigger customers around the world,” per Soerensen. The company supplies major restaurant chains such as Captain D’s and Long John Silver’s.
"We want them to be well and do well. We can create value and make volume available to them,” he said. "We go out of our way to support those customers.”
Meanwhile, American Seafoods is seeing increasing demand for seafood in all markets, per Soerensen, thanks to the popularity of sushi, high protein foods, and the rise in GLP-1 medications.
“Sales are doing very well,” he confirmed. “Seafood has been doing quite well since the pandemic.”
A lot of new customers that came into the category to buy value added and frozen seafood, in particular, have stayed in the category, he explained.
The company is realizing increased demand for its products in Europe.
“Cod and haddock quotas are struggling in the North Atlantic, which is good for Alaska pollock,” Soerensen said.
The fish has become very popular in the U.K. fish and chips market in particular, he added.
Surimi has enjoyed global growth for the past few years, Soerensen said, and as the U.S. government ups its purchases of Alaska pollock and other domestic seafood, American is working to get surimi approved for school lunches.
"Imagine if we could get that to more kids … there is a lot of opportunity of us,” Soerensen said. “Surimi is the next thing that is going to take over the world from Japan.”
The increasing use of GLP-1s has given the seafood industry “a lot of wind in our sails,” as doctors are telling those who take the medications to eat healthy proteins, Soerensen said, noting that the company’s quick service restaurant customers believe the uptick in their seafood sandwich sales is due to GLP-1s.
"That is going to be one of the main growth drivers for the industry,” Soerensen said.
Still, even though the high-protein trend offers a “tremendous opportunity for seafood,” the industry has more work to do in terms of positioning seafood as part of the protein conversation, Soerensen noted.
“Consumers often hear "high protein,’ and immediately think of chicken, beef, eggs, Greek yogurt, protein shakes or bars. Seafood tends to be marketed as seafood first, rather than as a high-quality everyday protein,” he said.
Sustainability and carbon footprint are important issues for shoppers and are also helping drive seafood sales, American Chief Sustainability Officer Tim Fitzgerald added. The problem is that sustainability messages at retail have gotten complicated with a variety of labels and logos, Fitzgerald said. The retailers that are successful have “really tried to simplify it” and have a very robust sustainability policy in place so consumers can “relax and turn their brains off,” Fitzgerald explained. For consumers concerned about climate, American has “one of the most climate-friendly operations," Fitzgerald said, with around 1.5 units of carbon per unit of protein – lower than most plant-based proteins.
“You can’t do better than seafood – especially the type of whitefish we are talking about,” Fitzgerald said.
