reLAKSation 236. Callander McDowell
Up and up: The prognosis for salmon prices continues to suggest that they will continue to rise. Forecasts for this week put the price up at about NOK 32 /kg. The question is how long can such prices be sustained before these increases are passed down the supply chain and consumers start to rebel?
We, at Callander McDowell appreciate that the salmon market is not identical throughout Europe but as a salmon-producing nation, the UK market is pivotal. Whilst retail salmon prices did increase a little after the imposition of EU trade measures although for more psychological reasons that a specific effect of the measures, prices have remained relatively static since. Yet more importantly, salmon has continued to be heavily promoted in the British market with regular discounts and offers. This weeks promotions include:
Booths - £1/kg off salmon fillet from the fish counter
Coop - Half price on 300g packs of salmon fillet
Marks& Spencer - £2/kg of packs of 4 salmon fillets
Sainsbury’s - Save £5 off two packs of salmon fillet
Somerfield – 100% extra free on packs of salmon fillet
Tesco – Save £2.31/kg on packs of organic salmon fillet
Waitrose – Save £2/kg on organic salmon fillet from the fish counter
With increased volumes of imports from Norway, it might be assumed that most of the fish used in these promotions is of Norwegian origin. However, the reality is that the fish is just as likely to have been farmed in Scotland as it is Norway. Some of the packs in some stores are of Norwegian fish but others are labelled as farmed in the UK.
With Easter just around the corner, past experience has suggested that the number of promotions will increase as the holiday period approaches. We, at Callander McDowell will be monitoring how the market develops.
If rising prices do start to affect the market, we anticipate that some of the supermarkets will look to source their salmon from outside Europe. This year, we have already seen ‘fresh’salmon sourced from Chile and salmon smoked and packed in Chile on promotion in British supermarkets. This week we have seen the first frozen salmon from Chile to be sold in a British store. These skinless and boneless fillets are on promotion and are selling at a price comparable to fresh. However, they can be cooked from frozen. It remains to be seen whether they are acceptable to British consumers more used to buying fresh.
The clear message is that if European prices rise above what consumers are willing to pay, the supermarkets will be happy to source their salmon from elsewhere. The fact that the origin might be Chile seems to be irrelevant.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information if this market information is of interest.
What’s in a name?: IntraFish report that the European Commission has simplified the rules protecting the names of regional foods. This has been necessary to bring the rules in line with world trade regulations enabling other countries to apply for EU food protection. The EU maintain that the system of protection was always open to foreign products citing special protection for Columbian coffee although virtually all of the 700 names currently protected are of European origin.
Although there might be 700 products registered for Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographic Indication (PGI) or Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG), the same handful of products are always cited as examples. IntraFish refer to Parma Ham, Roquefort cheese and Maderia wine. They also mention Kalamata olives and Stilton cheese. The EU state that the reason for protection is that when a country’s food gains a reputation beyond its national border, it can find itself in competition with products that try to pass themselves off as the genuine product and even take the same name. This may be true for a few selected products but the majority of the products given EU protection have no reputation outside their own country and in some cases are not even known within their own country. For example, Buxton Blue cheese has been given a PDO status but given that Callander McDowell are based less than 30 miles from Buxton, we have had difficulty tracing any Buxton Blue cheese at all. By comparison, Mrs Kirkham’s farmhouse Lancashire cheese is well known locally and has no EU protection.
We, at Callander McDowell are not convinced that most local and regional foods need such protection. There are a handful of well-known foods with a long standing international reputation that are occasionally emulated in other countries. Parma Ham is the best example of this. Certainly, the UK retailer lost the right to use the Parma Ham name on ham produced in the same way but not in Parma, but what producer is really going to try and pass off their cheese as Buxton Blue? In most cases, long standing producer groups are ready to take their case to court regardless and do not need EU protection to do so. Champagne producers are one example of this since wines, including Maderia, do not have such protection.
We can better relate to the development of EU protection marks for distinctive food products such as Parma Ham and specific cheeses, we have less understanding when the protection is for the basic raw material such as that obtained for Scottish salmon. Scottish Quality Salmon applied for and were awarded PGI status for their fish but the benefits of doing so are unclear. Scottish producers have always accused Norwegian producers of trying to pass their salmon off as Scottish but this was not intentional but rather a fault of the labelling legislation. Since the legislation has been tightened and all fish is clearly labelled as to its origin, it is apparent, that Norwegian producers do not need to mislead consumers as to its origin since most as just as happy to buy Norwegian (or Chilean) salmon as Scottish. The PGI has made absolutely no difference to the Scottish industry and it therefore has no real value.
Of course, protection may not be the only motivation for applying for one of the EU’s food quality labels. According to seafoodintelligence.com, Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness bemoaned the fact that only three Irish products had been awarded EU PGI status. She said that for a country that prides itself on quality food, it is a pity that only three Irish products have special merit. In addition to the benefits of protection, she said that food producers are missing out on the marketing opportunities arising from such registration. However, we, at Callander McDowell, doubt that these EU quality marks have any value as a marketing tool. This is because just as many of the registered foods are unknown, so are the quality marks themselves. As regular visitors to retailers throughout Europe, we have never seen any of the marks used in retail outlets. Certainly, the SQS/SSPO website fails to have any obvious mention of the PGI. The same applies to outlets for Arbroath smokies and Whitstable oysters, the two other British seafood products given PGI status. In Ireland, Clare Island salmon is one of the three registered products cited by Mairead McGuinness. Whilst Clare Island salmon has received some valuable publicity in both the press and on TV, the name is not yet readily identifiable with organic salmon. Tesco sources some of its organic salmon from Clare Island as this is clearly stated on the label, but it has been interchangeable with other organic fish from Ireland, Orkney and Shetland. Those consumers who do read the labels, and we would suggest that these are a minority of shoppers, would just assume that Clare Island is the farms location rather than being a protected name. Certainly, Tesco shoppers do not pay any extra from buying salmon from a quality- protected farm.
Mairead McGuinness has inadvertently put her finger on the real problem when she said that many producers of artisan food are missing out on this protection. However, those consumers who wish to buy local, high quality, artisan food but it because it is special and exclusive. Once the produce becomes well known and widely available, it loses its desirability and exclusivity. If such foods need EU protection, then they are no longer the type of food that such consumers actively seek.