Grupo Solimeno, a diversified fishing firm based in Mar del Plata, Argentina, has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Gava Foods.
Solimeno operates 13 vessels, including three onboard trawlers, three wetfish trawlers, five freezer-beam trawlers, and two squid-jiggers. It recently added the new-builds Luigi and Anita, which have become the two largest vessels in the company’s fleet.
The fleet is large and diverse enough to provide year-round supply for the company’s two seafood-processing facilities in Mar del Plata: the Planta Irala facility – which fillets and freezes whiting – and the 20,000-square-meter Planta Mare facility – which has two parallel lines for wash-cutting, packing, and freezing fish; a separate line for ring squid; three lines for breading; and a connected cold storage facility. The company produces 30,000 metric tons of seafood products annually, with the bulk comprised of whiting, ilex squid, and red shrimp. It has 850 employees.
Green Cove Springs, Florida, U.S.A.-based Gava Foods, which began in Montevideo, Uruguay, offloads hake from domestic and Spanish fleets and processes and ships fillets and steaks for retail and foodservice in the U.K. and U.S. It has also branched into Ecuadorian shrimp farming and the distribution of Ecuadorian and Panamanian shrimp. The new agreement with Solimeno sees the firm become Solimeno's exclusive importer for the U.S. market of whiting and shrimp products.
“Solimeno is one of Argentina's main seafood producers and exporters, and we have been working with them on their exports to Europe for many years,” Gava Foods CEO Jorge Azar told SeafoodSource. “Through the years of sales in Europe, we have identified that Solimeno has the number-one recognized quality in Argentina, which is sold as a premium brand in the E.U.”
Solimeno’s first products began arriving at Gava Foods’ cold storage facility in the U.S. state of New Jersey in August, and the agreement will involve year-round supply of whiting, squid, and shrimp, according to Azar.
“Although Solimeno has been exporting to the U.S. for some years, it has always been an on-and-off commercial flow for the U.S. market,” Azar said. “Solimeno, at the same time, has seen how Gava Foods has taken position as a U.S. importer of high-quality products and brands. We have agreed a development plan with them to introduce Solimeno as a solid supplier of whiting, squid, and shrimp into the U.S. market.”
Azar said South American producers normally tend to link themselves to local U.S. or European importers, but the Solimeno-Gava link-up represented a new model of business.
“This is a unique combination of two Latin American fishing companies, which understand each other's business, needs, and hopes, that have joined forces for international market development,” he said.
Solimeno International Trade Manager Sergio Teruggi said his company exports to over 40 countries, but it wants a bigger presence in the U.S.
“Solimeno is very happy to join forces with Gava Foods in order to develop the American market for our brand,” Teruggi told SeafoodSource. “We been working with Jorge Azar for many years [and] have been very successful working with Gava Foods in the European market. Now, we have a positive vision of the potential growth of Solimeno in the U.S. In the next months, Solimeno products will be available in key locations through America for a fast delivery to our future clients!”
