Egil Ove Sundheim has worked for the Norwegian Seafood Council for 20 years and has been the U.S. director in the NSC’s Boston, Massachusetts office since 2014.
SeafoodSource: What is the Norwegian Seafood Council’s mission?
Sundheim: We are an agency that is owned by the Norwegian government and financed by the Norwegian seafood industry through an export levy and our board of directors comes from the industry. Our mission is to create and increase the value of Norwegian seafood and we work to promote Norwegian seafood around the globe.
We work on a variety of areas: Market insight, such as analyzing supply and demand, gathering trade info, and consumer data on preferences, buying habits and so on to understand the mind of the consumer; market access, such as customs, tariffs, duties and labor issues related to getting access to the market; issues management, which relates to any stories in the media or on social media related to Norwegian seafood; and marketing, such as promoting the positives related to eating Norwegian seafood and offering it at retail and foodservice.
SeafoodSource: How does your role differ from those of your counterparts serving offices in other parts of the world?
Sundheim: As U.S. director, I work on all the areas of operations. I monitor what is going on, what is happening, and how that will change policy. Being in the U.S., whatever story comes up is likely to travel around the world because of the prevalence of English being spoken. It’s a very fluid kind of agenda. But it’s about making sure that we get the most out of the money we spend.
We have representation in many parts of the world, including Brazil, Africa, and Europe. The U.S. is a large, well-developed and well-defined market, unlike some less-developed markets, like Africa. But the U.S. market share is smaller, although we have a broad range of products here because of the different ethnic markets. The diversity of groups within the United States gives us a different marketplace than in other countries.
SeafoodSource: What characteristics or traits are needed to be successful in your job?
Sundheim: The ability to understand the market; to understand the U.S. from a non-European perspective. The U.S. is more complex, so you have to be able to relate to different ethnicities and cultures. I have to get to know the people and understand their needs and translate that to the Norwegian government, suppliers, and other players. It requires me to be both analytical and diplomatic and to find common ground in different situations.
SeafoodSource: What are the major goals for NSC within the U.S. in 2018?
Sundheim: Although we’ve increased and strengthened our position here, Norwegian seafood has a relatively small market share. Thus, we want to increase the knowledge of and demand for our seafood, which includes salmon, mackerel, cod, and other species. We also want to bring the story of how we produce to the market. And we want to provide market insight to the Norwegian suppliers so they can be more strategic in their approach.
We’ve launched a country-of-origin label and we will try to get that into greater use. The consumer is willing to pay more if they know about the quality of Norwegian seafood. They’ve come to trust it. We’ll do as many activities as we can with importing companies and the retail and foodservice community. We’re looking at several programs, including using point-of-sale materials at retail across the U.S. Foodservice companies have seen an increase in sales when they promote Norwegian seafood and talk about it on the menu. Consumers have come to associate Norway and Norwegian seafood with positive attributes.
SeafoodSource: The U.S. is now in its second year of the administration of President Donald Trump. What impact, if any, has the administration’s approach to doing business internationally had on Norway’s ability to do business in the U.S.?
Sundheim: One of the first requests from the industry was to talk about the implications of the Trump administration. There were lots of questions from the Norwegian side. The administration’s trade war approach has raised some questions. Norway isn’t hit directly by any of the trade agreements yet, but it makes companies wonder where this will take the U.S. It has increased the uncertainty and the need for groups to understand what is going on. It’s a complex world, to be sure.
SeafoodSource: What are three things people would be surprised to know about Norway’s seafood industry?
Sundheim: Norway is the second-largest exporter of seafood. We are 11th or 12th in production, but second in exports. Even though we eat a lot of it, we have a lot to share, so Norway exports about 95 percent of what we produce.
Second is the way we raise our salmon. People are unaware of how it’s done. The density in the pens and other factors; it’s all so different from what people envision.
And people would be surprised by the impact of the seafood industry on the local economy. The livelihood of families, taxes to finance schools, healthcare, infrastructure, and so on all comes from the industry. The industry and the government work hand-in-hand and there needs to be strong guiding principles from government for the industry to continue. Like having to maintain the cod stock – the government put in regulations to ensure it will continue. The same is true with aquaculture; it’s dual trust and dependency.
