A new report by the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) has identified the top markets for Alaska pollock worldwide.
The report, Wild Alaska Pollock 2040: Future Potential for Current and New Markets report, was conducted by McKinley Research and comes at a time when Alaska pollock prices and demand have soared. The report found that the United States, Malaysia, Spain, and the United Kingdom rank as the most favorable future markets for the species, and France, Germany, Japan, Poland, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates all also rank as “favorable” markets, GAPP said in a press release.
The markets that ranked as “most favorable” are those having the greatest opportunities for important growth with investment, in near-term or by 2040, and those ranked as “favorable” are those that are or have the potential to be important markets and are relatively stable in terms of demand for pollock from Alaska.
“We know that much of our growth can and will be outside of our domestic market,” American Seafoods Executive Vice President of Global Sales Rasmus Sorensen, chair of the research project, said.
“This report and the research behind it underscores the service that GAPP provides to the industry – helping us understand our opportunities and then working with us to strategically leverage those through marketing and communications, partnership and innovation, to the best possible extent to drive value for the entire fishery,” Sorenson added.
The Alaska pollock industry now “quite literally has a prioritized treasure map leading us to the most valuable future markets for our fish and provides us the tools to boldly market our products in those countries with the highest return on our investment,” GAPP CEO Craig Morris said.
In addition to driving GAPP’s international marketing efforts, the research will also drive its partnership programs.
“As we look to continue expanding our Partnership Program into more foreign markets, this research has now provided us with prioritized pins on a map of where to seek out new partners and drive investment in innovation,” Morris said. “While the U.S. will always be a focus of our Partnership Program, the Board has long wanted us to ‘go global’ in expanding our Programs and now we can prioritize those markets with the best opportunities for the future.”
Beyond market identification, the research also illuminated some significant conclusions to drive long-term international growth, including that the size of the population and the relative purchasing power of market is critical, that cultural food tastes change more slowly than originally thought, and that many markets will require product innovation to break through and sustain long-term growth and demand.
GAPP will host a webinar on 30 March at 2 p.m. EST for its members to review the results in depth.
Graphic courtesy of GAPP
