Turkish seafood enterprise Kılıç Holding has successfully seen the transport of over one million sea bream seed fish from Turkey to Oman by plane, a world first, the company announced in June.
The company, which saw exports reach USD 142 million (EUR 123 million) in 2016, has continued to focus on the shipment of live fish, particularly to Gulf countries like Oman, it said. Each year, Kılıç produces 50,000 tons of fish, and exports around 70 percent of what it generates. Heading further into 2017 and 2018, the company is hoping to boost its exports to Arab and Gulf countries in the region even more by utilizing air shipment methods.
“We had been exporting our fishes by sea shipment until recently,” said Kılıç Deniz Ürünleri Hatcheries and Foreign Investments Director Serkan Ilgaz. “However, we have started shipping to new markets we could not reach by sea via air shipment. Interest in the live fish, especially having recently started in the Gulf countries, has moved us to action. We are exporting live fish to Tunisia, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. We currently have 30 percent of the Tunisian market.”
Approximately 1.2 million seed sea bream were shipped to Oman, valuing USD 500,000 (EUR 436,516), to help with “newly-initiated aquaculture projects,” explained Ilgaz. Special plastic boxes, equipped with oxygen tubes “so as not to lower the oxygen value of the water,” housed the fish, weighing two grams each, according to Kılıç. Because Oman does not have a hatchery, the fish are expected to be sold after a year of rearing, when they reach 400 grams.
“That this has been the first big-scale air-shipment of live fish to date, constitutes an important aspect of the export in question,” Ilgaz said.
