Tokyo, Japan-based conglomerate Marubeni has sold subsidiary North Pacific Seafoods to the Canadian Fishing Company (Canfisco), pulling it entirely out of Alaska’s seafood production sector.
According to the Suisan-Keizai Daily News, Marubeni closed a deal to sell the Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based seafood processor to Canfisco on 4 June and “will completely withdraw from the production business in Alaska.” North Pacific Seafoods operates five seafood processing facilities in Naknek (Pederson Point and Red Salmon), Twin Hills, Kodiak, and Sitka, Alaska.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based Canfisco operates seven seafood processing facilities in British Columbia and Alaska, including two plants in Naknek and one in Ketchikan. It claims to operate the largest fishing fleet in British Columbia, with a focus on harvesting salmon, herring, rockfish, halibut, and hake, and harvests more than 100 million pounds of seafood annually. It claims to be one of North America’s largest producers of single-frozen Marine Stewardship Council sustainable wild salmon fillets.
“Our Alaskan operations are major producers in their regions and have a growing share of the wild salmon fillet and canned salmon markets, as well as expanding Canfisco’s volume and range of smoked salmon products,” the company said on its website.
Canfisco is owned by the Jim Pattison Group, the second-largest private company in Canada, with CAD 12.7 billion (USD 10.5 million, EUR 8.6 million) in holdings. Earlier this year, Canfisco purchased Everett, Washington, U.S.A.-based Deep Sea Fisheries, a fishing company and seafood importer which operates three fishing vessels and three tenders in Alaska, according to the Suisan-Keizai Daily News. And in 2020, it bought E&E Foods, a Seattle-area company specializing in Alaskan seafood, including halibut and salmon. E&E operates numerous shoreside seafood processing plants in Alaska, including Coffee Point Seafoods in Egegik, Pacific Star Seafoods in Kenai, and Yakutat Seafoods in Yakutat. It also operates a floating processor in Bristol Bay and Kotzebue.
Marubeni retains ownership of seafood distributor Teaneck, New Jersey, U.S.A.-based Eastern Fish Co., one of the leading importers of shrimp into the United States.
Marubeni, Canfisco, and North Pacific Seafoods did not respond to requests from SeafoodSource for more information on the transaction.
Photo courtesy of North Pacific Seafoods
