With the size of the Japanese fish-paste product market is limited by the country’s shrinking population, the major manufacturers of such products are beginning to looking overseas for growth.
Among the top five fishcake producers, ranked by annual sales based on fiscal year 2018 data, is Kibun Foods, based in Tokyo, Japan. The company is Japan’s largest fish-paste product maker by sales, at over JPY 46 billion (USD 423 million, EUR 345 million). Though it produces a wide range of surimi-based foods, the company is best-known for its original product, “chi-chiku,” which is chikuwa (roasted tube-shaped kamaboko) stuffed with cheese.
Kibun is a group company with several subsidiaries composing three segments: domestic food business, overseas food business, and food-related business. It has established overseas offices in Europe, the United States, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore by the enterprise. The company is emphasizing its gluten-free konjac noodles, imitation crab, and chi-chiku in the overseas markets. Kibun Foods listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange this April in order to raise money for its international expansion.
Niigata’s Ichimasa Kamaboko, another fish-paste product innovator, was second in domestic sales, at over JPY 35 billion (USD 321 million, EUR 262 million). As kamaboko is an inexpensive food, makers like Ichimasa have been able to maintain profits as people eat at home more. The company’s profit rose 30 percent in its recent third-quarter results, despite a warm winter contributing to sluggish sales of oden items. Liquidating the assets of a dissolved subsidiary in China also contributed to the higher figure, the company said. Ichimasa announced in March that it its board of directors approved building a new surimi stick production line at its headquarters facility.
Sugiyo, based in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, ranks third in the fishcake space, with over JPY 20 billion (USD 183 million, EUR 150 million) in sales. The company claims to be the originator of crab-flavored seafood. It began exporting to the U.S. in 1976, and later established production in Anacortes, Washington, U.S.A. in the 1980s. Its exports took off from 2015 – the company now ships over thirty 40-foot containers per year.
Kanesho, based in Aichi, with JPY 16.9 billion (USD 156 million, EUR 127 million) in annual sales, earns about 30 percent of its revenue through the convenience-store channel, in contrast to other makers that are more strongly weighted to supermarket sales.
Meanwhile, Nagato, Yamaguchi Prefecture-based Fujimitsu rounds out the list with JPY 11 billion (USD 101 million, EUR 82 million) in sales. In 2010, the company set up a joint venture called Rongcheng Taizheng Tengguang Foods Co., Ltd. with Rongcheng Taizheng Food Co., Ltd., a member of China's Taixiang Group. The new company manufactures chikuwa, imitation crab, and other surimi products for distribution in Japan and throughout Asia. Exports now make up about 20 percent of the company’s sales total .
Photo courtesy of Kibun
