reLAKSation 165.

Descending into farce: According to the BBC, salmon was used in 86 million meals between March and May compared with 72 million in the same time last year. This is an increase of 20%. Consumers have ignored the salmon scares, preferring to eat healthy meals at a reasonable price. The Scottish industry are due to start a major promotion, part funded by the European Commission, to encourage consumers to eat even more salmon.

Against this background, how else is the Commission proposing to help the salmon industry? What else, but restrict supplies!

The European salmon industry are unable to meet current European demand so it seems rather misguided to promote increased consumption, when supplies might be limited, but then there appears very little logic to the current salmon debate.

We, at Callander McDowell, have previously discussed many of the issues so we do not intend to repeat them here. However, the latest developments certainly warrant further comment but first we would like to answer our initial question. Why is the Scottish industry due to promote increased salmon consumption yet at the same time seek restrictions on the import of farmed salmon. The simple answer is that the Scottish industry is not represented by a single organisation. Having failed to generate any support from the various official organisations, Angus Morgan and his supporters set up their own organisation, the European Salmon Producers Group, through which to petition Brussels. This means that there is one section of the industry trying to increase salmon consumption, whilst another tries to make it less available!. This group does not represent a majority of the Scottish or European salmon industries and is simply trying to impose its blinkered vision onto the whole of the salmon industry in Europe including those outside the European Community.

The EUSPG, backed by the British Government, persuaded Brussels to introduce safeguard measures but the subsequent fall out from salmon users has made the Commission rethink its approach to safeguard. The latest proposal is to introduce an export quota calculated from the average of the last three years plus 10% plus an unspecified amount to take into account the increased size of the Community. Any imports above this figure would be subjected to the 17.8% tariff. In return for this agreement, Norway would commit not to submit the case to the WTO, but equally Norway would not be subjected to new dumping allegations. Yet, this is a hollow promise since The Commission had already initiated dumping proceedings on 23^rd October against Norway.

This new action should never have been accepted by the Commission. According to the official journal, these latest proceedings were prompted by a complaint lodged on September 8^th by the EU Salmon Producers Group on behalf of producers representing a major proportion of the Community production of farmed salmon. What this means is that this group represents the major proportion of a minority group. When the British Government submitted their application for safeguards, it was supported by less than 30% of the industry. The EUSPG may represent a majority of independent producers, but not a majority of the industry. We thought that we lived in a democracy.

In addition, it seems rather premature of the EUSPG to submit this action without waiting to see how salmon prices react to the safeguard measures. Clearly, the EUSPG have no confidence in the safeguards measures and do not expect them to work. This is why they are pushing for even more stringent measures to be put in place against Norwegian imports. They will not be satisfied until they have excluded all the competition and as a result they now seem to be dragging the global salmon industry into a trade war.   

It does not help that the EU now seem to making the rules up as they go along. Whilst the latest dumping action is specifically aimed at Norway, the EU appear to want to act against Chile too. Having established that Chile would not be part of any safeguard measures because of their developing status, the new proposed safeguard measures now include Chilean salmon in the quota. The Chilean industry is naturally dismayed and have indicated that they will fight this proposal. They have every right to be aggrieved, especially as the current level of exports to the European market is almost insignificant.

It seems that the EU are determined to ensure that European consumers are unable to buy a value for money healthy meal choice. Perhaps, if they succeed in restricting imports, the Commission will tell us where we can buy such meal options. We doubt it. Instead, we expect the 20% increase in salmon meal consumption will be reversed and farmed salmon consumption will decline. 

Instead, we would imagine that we will start to see a dramatic rise in imports of Pacific salmon species, which are not part of the current actions. These could be either farmed or wild caught but we know that they can be supplied fresh, because they already are. We wonder whether Mr Morgan and his colleagues at the EUSPG really think that European consumers will differentiate Pacific salmon from their Scottish farmed fish or will they still continue to buy the salmon which represents the best value for money?

No difference?: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, downsizing life style cook has begun a new series on British TV. For the last four years, Hugh has moved out of London to a 4 acre small-holding in Dorest called The River Cottage. His adventures of living off the land have developed a cult following.

His latest series began with a move to a larger farm of 44 acres, which he said brings greater responsibility. The land needs to be worked using grazing animals. This means that his stock has grown by a factor of five. He relates that more animals means more bills to pay, more feed to buy, more machines to maintain and that he now needs the help of a part time stockman. These rising costs mean that his increased production must work hard for him.

What has all this to do with salmon farming?

Hugh says that the solution to his problems is to create a new edible enterprise which will mean that when he is flush with produce and has something to sell, such as when he sends animals to slaughter, he wants to sell it at ‘top whack’ on the plate. His past experience at the River Cottage has shown him that the key to a successful enterprise is by adding value. Hugh says that having grown the produce, top it up, take it to the kitchen and give it a spin. He says that if you get the ‘recipe’ right then it is possible to persuade consumers into parting with surprising amounts of cash.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall may be a one man venture but his vision applies just as much to salmon farming, especially to the smaller enterprises that can develop high value niche market products. The various members of the EUSPG could perhaps learn a valuable lesson from Hugh’s experience and develop their own specialist businesses as a response to increased competition from overseas.

Interestingly, Hugh is a passionate advocate of high quality, locally produced food. He recommends that anyone that cares about the food they eat should buy food from specialist outlets and farmers markets rather than buy from the supermarkets. He recently attended the Manchester Food and Drink Festival and endorsed the food supplied through a farmers market set up to run through the festival. We, at Callander McDowell, were therefore surprised to see that a local smokehouse was also selling fresh salmon alongside its smoked products. Was this salmon locally produced in Scotland? Try the Faeroes instead.

This demonstrates that even those consumers who shop at the premium quality end of the market are just as happy to buy what appears the best value for money. This is why the premium market for Scottish salmon remains just a small niche market.

How convenient?: The French have always been associated with gastronomic perfectionism. This is one of the reasons why France has been the main target market for Scottish salmon exports. However, the recent publication of a French government report is now bringing into question this affiliation with gourmet food.

France's gastronomic perfectionism is giving way to a desire for simplicity and speed. According to a report in the Guardian newspaper, the French government looks on this change as an Americanisation of French eating habits. The traditional four-course meal has become a rarity with only one fifth of the population bothering to sit through a whole meal. Instead, most people spend a maximum of 20 minutes cooking and 55% now eat their evening meal in front of the TV. More importantly, old staples such as oysters and fresh fish are being increasingly replaced by a new enthusiasm for fresh pasta.

Yet despite this shift away from home cooking, 94.5% of French people believe eating well is one of life's pleasures and nine out of ten, still sit down to three meals a day. The reality is that cooking has been upgraded from a domestic chore to a weekend hobby.

However, this enthusiasm for hobby cooking cannot mask the writing on the wall. Fresh fish consumption is on the decline in France.  According to Intrafish, salmon consumption has fallen this year and this fall has been blamed on the adverse publicity resulting from the Science article. This latest study could be suggesting that there is more to the decline than just the Science article.  If French consumers are turning from fresh fish to fresh pasta then maybe the answer will be to sell more salmon tagliatelle.

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