reLAKSation 140.
Common
sense prevails:
Whatever the actual train of events,
whether it be that the EU Trade Department recognised that there was
insufficient cause to warrant the imposition of safeguards or that the Safeguard
Committee realised that there were greater implications for the EU if they
succumbed to the demands of a small number of Scottish and Irish farmers, common
sense appears to have prevailed. The meeting of the Safeguard Committee last
Thursday resulted in the withdrawal of proposals to impose a punitive duty and
instead settle for a discussion on import quotas. According to IntraFish, the
Commission will now retire and
draft a new plan based on quotas over the next few weeks.
We,
at Callander McDowell now hope that the same level of common sense will prevail
in these quota discussions and that any restrictions on the free trade of a
farmed fish would have major implications for the future of wild catch
fisheries. Just this week, the WWF announced that the world’s cod stocks could
be wiped out by 2020 because of over-fishing, illegal catches and oil
exploration. The widespread availability of value for money farmed salmon has
already help reduce the demand for wild caught species, however, if supplies of
salmon are restricted, demand for cod could start to increase again, which could
further speed up the decimation of wild stocks of marine species. The European
Commission needs to realise how vital it is to encourage the further expansion
of farmed fish consumption and not to saddle the farming industry with
unnecessary and restrictive quotas.
The
very same issues which encouraged the Safeguard Committee to reject punitive
measures now apply to quotas. A small section of the Scottish industry claim
that they are unable to compete unless action is taken to stem the tide of low
cost imports. Yet, this supposed imbalance could also redressed if the Scottish
industry were to become more competitive. This does not have to be a one way
solution.
Even
the most successful businesses have to evolve with changes to the markets. It is
only necessary to look at some of the most well known consumer brands to see
that they cannot afford to stand still or they risk losing market share to their
competitors. Coca Cola, Guniness, Kelloggs, Mars are all good examples of
companies continuing to adapt to the changing marketplace. Sadly, the Scottish
industry has preferred to stand still. The industry has done a good job with
issues like area management agreements, lice treatments etc but these are
production issues and of little concern to the marketplace. In terms of the
market, the industry has shown little progress. Back in 1991, the then Scottish
Salmon Board launched the Tartan Quality Mark as a focus of their market
strategy. The message was that Scottish salmon is a high quality product for
which the consumer is prepared to pay a premium price. This message has not
changed, even though it is extremely difficult to find any examples in the
retail sector where Scottish salmon costs more than comparable imported product.
Most consumers are simply not interested in the differential between salmon of
various origins because to them, one bit of salmon is much the same as another.
Despite this clear message from the marketplace, some sections of the industry
continue to bang their drum in exactly the same way that they have been doing
for the past decade. Unfortunately, when the marketplace fails to respond to
their promotion, they simply blame others and go running to Brussels to demand
retribution. Instead, they should be looking to ways in which they can respond
to changing consumer demands.
The
Scottish aquaculture minister, Allan Wilson, has said that one of the reasons
why safeguards are so urgently required is to give the industry sufficient time
to introduce his Strategic Framework. Yet, in terms of market development, the
framework offers little new and continues to focus on the premium market and
even cites the TQM as an example to emulate. This is not the sort of changes the
industry needs. They need to look at what the consumer wants, not what they want
to produce.
The
Scottish industry needs to look to the future, not to the past. Clearly, if
those industry representatives who have consistently argued for sanctions cannot
see any other solution, perhaps it is time that they took a back seat. The
Scottish industry is already divided between the large and small producers;
those that supported safeguards and those that didn’t. It is time to put these
differences aside and work together towards the important issues, like averting
the threat of the anti-farming brigade.
Salmon
farming is still a young dynamic industry with a solid future. Brussels is not
the right place to resolve any of the difficulties encountered on the way. These
should be addressed within the confines of the marketplace.
Certified!:
According to IntraFish, French supermarket giant, Auchan, has officially
certified Marine Harvest’s Norwegian operation under the company’s quality
control label ‘Filiere Auchan’. Marine Harvest have been rigorously audited
over the past three year with a range of inspections to see that the product is
traceable from the egg to the consumer so that the store group can provide
specific assurances to their customers. Charloitte Guilbert-Peutin, the buyer
for salmon said that the quality label has helped the company as during the
dioxin crisis because they were able to allay many fears with their own
documentation from the Filiere Auchan audit.
This
certification raises a couple of interesting issues. Marine Harvest’s Scottish
operation is also audited for quality under the French Label Rouge scheme.
Scottish Quality salmon recently announced that Label Rouge sales have increased
by 5.5% this year to over 5,000 tonnes. By comparison, Marine Harvest CEO, Hans
de Bieman said that Marine Harvest is Auchan’s sole supplier of salmon
providing 10,000 tonnes of salmon annually. Thus, one supermarket chain sells
double the amount of salmon that Scottish producers export to the whole of
France each year. This illustrates how much of a niche market Label Rouge has
become.
It
might be argued that Auchan’s ‘Filiere Auchan’ may provide extra
reassurance for customers but equally it is likely that those customers who want
to buy salmon will continue do so irrespective of whether the ‘Filiere Auchan’
scheme is in operation or not. Whether it provides extra benefits in time of
food scares is a different issue altogether and one which we at Callander
McDowell hope that Auchan never has to test.
It is often assumed that high quality products should be rewarded with a premium price such as with Label Rouge, however most consumers would expect their retailers to provide the highest possible quality product available for the best possible price, as a matter of right. Consumers do not expect to have to pay more for extra reassurance and certainly Auchan customers have not had to do so. Both Fish Farming International and Seafood International have published pictures of an advertising hoarding taken in France.
This shows an Auchan promotion offering whole salmon for Euro 3/kg, the lowest price we have ever seen. Of course, whilst this is an illustration of salmon being sold at a very low price, it should also be noted that sales of whole salmon are in decline. Most consumers want the ease and convenience of fillets and not to be faced by a whole fish. However, if Auchan shoppers were canny enough they would have bought the fish whole and then got the fishmonger to cut it up into fillets which they could have then frozen for later consumption whilst getting a real bargain in the process.