Finalization has been the focus of 2018 so far for Noordzee, one of Turkey’s leading producers of sea bream, sea bass, and stone bass.
The family-helmed aquaculture business has pursued a rapid growth strategy since its establishment in 1998, and has yet to slow its momentum. To date, Noordzee’s capacity is more than 15 times what it was to begin with, and a crop of recent “big investments” should serve to bolster that number even further, according to Alp Vural, the company’s sales director.
Over the course of 2017 and early 2018, the company netted six new farms, Vural said, and if all goes according to plan, the purchase of each will be fully actualized by the start of next year.
“By year-end of 2018, we plan to finalize all of these investments,” confirmed Vural, who manages Noordzee with his brother, Tolga.
The Vurals have worked diligently to create a thriving, self-sufficient enterprise with a solid foundation. Having a family in charge has been one contributor of Noordzee’s success, Vural told SeafoodSource last month during Seafood Expo Global in Brussels, Belgium.
“What I see is if the family is in the business, that company is usually healthy,” he said.
Another differentiating factor for Noordzee is its status as a fully-integrated operation, Vural explained. It wasn’t just farms that the company was purchasing last year – Noordzee also acquired a hatchery near its processing plant, and, in effect, brought all stages of seafood production under its purview. From its feed plant, to its hatchery, to its various offshore farm sites and state-of-the-art processing and packaging facility, Noordzee oversees its products as they travel through the entire supply chain.
“Now even the boxes we handle on our own,” Vural said.
Full integration allows the business to maintain and uphold its overarching commitment to quality, Vural said. The company can guarantee that its fish have been raised under similar standards in the healthy waters of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, where all of its offshore fish farms are located. Noordzee is also better able to “adjust production to the desired numbers/weights according to customer demands,” thanks to its integration.
For the future, Vural said the company will continue to eye existing farms for purchase, as well as work to increase its share of the market in both the United States and Europe. The core species produced by Noordzee – sea bream, sea bass, and stone bass – are new to the North American market, and “very popular” in Europe, said Vural. The company is working with retail partners in both market spaces to capitalize on the opportunities present. The fact that Noordzee “has farms all around Turkey” and is “able to have fish for all seasons,” is a strength that the firm is looking to continue to leverage in all markets moving forward, Vural said.
