This Spotlight On features Nacho Cuevas, a veteran in the Spanish shrimp industry. Cuevas is the founder and co-owner of Gambastar, one of Spain’s shrimp cookeries that imports, processes and distributes large volumes of shrimp on Europe’s largest shrimp market.
Cuevas studied business administration and management and worked for several years in the IT industry where he laid the foundations for starting his own shrimp business in 2003. During the early years, going some 40 years back, he started to make contacts in the shrimp industry and this eventually resulted in his company, Gambastar, which has now been in existence for 16 years. Gambastar (co-owned with Primstar, the shrimp division of the Dutch Cornelis Vrolijk group) started trading in 2003 and opened its own processing plant two years later. In 2018, Gambastar sold 11,000 tons of shrimp primarily onto the Spanish market, but also onto the wider EU market, to customers including supermarkets, specialized retailers and food service operators. Its brand, “Gambafresh”, is widely known and well respected.
Shrimptails: Nacho, could you explain to us what makes the shrimp market in Spain so unique, especially compared to the rest of Europe?
Cuevas: Shrimp is an important item in Spanish gastronomy, not only as a main dish – cooked, grilled, baked, fried al ajillo – but also as part of a dish or as a side dish in the shape of salads, soups, fish and paellas. Spanish people love shrimp and, contrary to many other Europeans, the Spanish are capable of distinguishing the main species in the market. And due to Spanish cultural and regional diversity, almost every region has its own preferences for the species, colors and sizes of shrimp. In the south, for example, people prefer light-colored shrimp, whereas the people in the north are more partial to the darker shrimp. This is what makes the Spanish market so unique, because every type of shrimp, whether cheap or expensive, big or small, has a place here and will find its way to the market.
Shrimptails: You have been in the industry for so long. Can you tell us a bit about how you have seen the shrimp business change over time?
Cuevas: Interesting question! When I started in the shrimp business, Pacific white shrimp (L. vannamei) couldn’t really be found much. When it was first introduced in Spain, it was therefore regarded as a premium product, fit for special occasions and celebrations. Now we see Pacific white shrimp more as a commodity, maybe still with some hints of luxury, but a commodity anyway. The same goes for the way in which Argentine red shrimp (P. muelleri) was popularized in Spain in recent years. While before many other species prevailed, such as African wild shrimp species (black tiger (P. monodon), pink shrimp (P. notialis) and (Indian) white shrimp (P. indicus)), nowadays Argentine red shrimp and Pacific white shrimp are the dominant species on the market, and their prices are the reference for other species. The popularity of cheaper and more widely available Pacific white shrimp and Argentine red shrimp, however, pressurizes supplies of other species to lower their prices as well, or they risk being pushed out of the market.
Shrimptails: We always say that in the Netherlands we don’t know what we eat so we don’t care much about the quality of our food as long as it’s sustainable and affordable. Is it true that in Spain you do care about quality and affordability, but that thus far sustainability has not been top of the list of priorities?
Cuevas: Well, we in Spain certainly care about the quality of our food! But I can agree that some players in some segments of the market indeed do not care too much about sustainability. However, we have customers both in retail and food service that do not think like this and are placing sustainability at the top of the list when it comes to their buyer requirements. The main certifications asked for in Spain are the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification and the EU’s “green leaf ” organic certification.
Shrimptails: In north-western Europe, especially in retail, ASC certification is a must to access the market. Do you see the same trend happening in Spain?
Cuevas: Yes, absolutely. We already see the same trend for retailers that originate from the north of Europe but operate their outlets in Spain. Even some national retailers have started to offer ASC certified products to their customers. However, the movement may be a bit slower than in northern Europe. But also in Spain, sustainability is here to stay and new consumers, the younger generations, are demanding and looking for sustainable food. Here at Gambastar we believe in sustainability and we are ASC, Global GAP, ISO14001 and EU organic certified.
Shrimptails: 2018 was a rocky year for shrimp importers in Europe. Prices slumped and the market was slow. How do you look at 2019? Is there a better year ahead?
Cuevas: We see that prices went down significantly in 2018. We expect that prices in 2019 will not drop as low as in 2018, but will also not come above pre-2018 levels. We expect prices in 2019 to stabilize somewhere between the low of 2018 and the high of 2017. However, the unpredictability of production on the one hand and the unpredictability of market demand on the other may again cause up and downs. Let’s hope that 2019 will be a better year for each part of the industry’s value chain. Stable, reasonable prices that allow decent margins for all segments of the industry would be the ideal scenario.
Shrimptails: What is the key message you would like to give to ShrimpTails readers about 2019 and what the industry should focus on?
Cuevas: Well, in 2019 we will see if the trend of lowering prices will start to push out the industry’s weaker players. Those players who are not financially strong, or whose business models are not designed to deal with lower margins, will experience increasing difficulties to survive in this market. The industry should focus on producing sustainable, healthy and safe (maybe even clean label, or “zero additives”) shrimp which can be sold at higher and more stable prices, and with more efficiency in order to maintain margins and profitability.
Image courtesy of Seafood Trade Intelligence Portal
