reLAKSation 255. Callander McDowell
Hot and cold?: The salmon market continues to be rife with mixed messages. One industry source told IntraFish that it had been a difficult week as no-one is going to restaurants due to the hot weather. At the same time, British supermarket giant Tesco told the BBC’s Breakfast News that they anticipated to sell over a million salmon steaks as the hot weather encouraged their customers to get out the barbecue.
It is difficult to predict whether Tesco’s expectation will be met as the higher prices appear to be now deterring consumers, although they may be willing to overlook the high price for the one off summer barbecue that is, if Tesco even have the salmon in stock to sell. Our observations of salmon availability in Tesco this week would indicate supplies of farmed salmon are very low even to the point that Tesco have bought in whole wild silver salmon and are selling it at exactly the same price as farmed Atlantics; £6.99/kg.
Tesco have also reduced the price of fillets of Alaskan salmon so they are now lower than the equivalent farmed fish. Clearly, the substitution of farmed salmon with wild imported fish could potentially damage the salmon farming industry. Consumers might not only get a taste for this salmon but also the environmental groups might encourage the stores to stock more of it because of the sustainability issues as underwritten by the MSC accreditation. Prices must start to come down or consumers will desert salmon in favour of cheaper alternatives. In Tesco this week, even tuna steaks are cheaper than salmon.
Direct Ocean, the French salmon importer, told IntraFish that salmon prices should dampen in coming months as supplies become more available. This cannot come soon enough although whilst prices do tend to dip in the summer, increased demand in the run up towards Christmas could push up prices again. In the past, farmers have held back supplies in the hope of better prices and the prices have weakened as a result. With higher prices this summer, this pattern may not continue as in previous years so any predictions could be difficult. The Christmas market is different to the rest of the year so it will not be until January until is possible to see whether these current high prices have had any damaging impact on consumer demand.
What is clear is that if the salmon industry is to grow it must start to provide salmon at more consistent and predictable price levels so that consumers can continue to buy salmon to meet their everyday needs.
What farm?: We doubt that anyone reading this latest reLAKSation has ever hear of ‘Ridgeway’, ‘Hellinghayes’, ‘Penleaze’ or ‘Bluehaze’, because no-one at Callander McDowell has either. They are all farms in the West Country of the UK producing ‘Devonshire Reds’, a slow growing breed, specially selected for Sainsbury’s ‘Taste the Difference’ free range chicken. Are we any the wiser that we know this information?
We don’t know whether all these farms produce chicken in identical ways or whether one is better than another and as more chicken from more than one farm is displayed at the same time, which should we choose? What we do know is when we actually buy a chicken that it should taste good and that we paid the right price to buy it.
‘Taste the Difference’ is Sainsbury’s premium label and as such, the supermarket aims to provide more information about the product including in the case of chickens, the name of the farm, but as far as we are concerned it is just that – a name.
In an editorial in Fish Farming International, Deputy Editor, Velo Mitrovich gives the impression that he can easily identify which English farm raises the chicken he eats. This isn’t exactly true as most chicken sold in the UK is not labeled with such information. Instead, it tends to be only the premium end of the market which provides such details and then it is more of a marketing gimmick rather than having any specific use.
Mr Mitrovich raises this issue after reflecting on the skeletal remains of a grilled sea bream he had just demolished for his dinner. He later asked his fishmonger, who he trusts implicitly to supply fish of the highest possible quality, which farm had supplied the fish and his fishmonger had no idea. They had to go to the cold room and seek out the box which identified the farm – ‘Forkys’ on the island of Chios. When asked if he regularly bought from this farm, he answered that he had no idea.
This comment caused Mr Mitrovitch to wonder whether individual fish farms are concerned that retailers have no idea whether it is their fish or someone else’s who they are selling, even when its of the highest quality. Mr Mitrovitch wonders whether it is time that farmers started to market their fish to consumers in order to make their fish stand out.
We, at Callander McDowell, are not convinced that promoting individual farm identities is the right strategy for the fish farming industry. Clearly, farms need to be identifiable within the supply chain to ensure full traceability but that’s as far as it goes. This is because in terms of farming, one fish is pretty much the same as another and certainly most consumers would be hard pressed to discern any noticeable difference between them. Most differences in quality, if there are any at all, are due to the handling after harvest and the way that they are treated down the supply chain. A farm can invest huge sums in making sure that their fish are reared to the highest possible standard only for this quality to be compromised by poor handling at the wholesaler or retailer or even during transport. The problem for the farmer is that once the fish have left the farm, they are no longer in his control and he is reliant on others to ensure that his high standards are maintained.
However, this is not the only problem for the farmer. Developing a farm identity is akin to developing a brand. Brands only work if the farmer can ensure that he can continually maintain a supply to his customers. If the supply is broken, customers will look for alternative sources. Thus, only the largest farms can develop such an identity or alternatively, limit the supply to a handful of customers. This is why farm identity doesn’t really work. In the salmon industry, only one farm has really established its own identity and that is Loch Duart. However, whilst it is well known within the industry, it is not a household name with the public. Currently, it is only available through two restaurant chains, one of which is national plus a few hotels. Even then, the consumer must trust these outlets that the salmon they serve is actually from Loch Duart because there is no way of knowing.
Marine Harvest have developed the name of their Clare Island organic farm into a brand but in the UK, it is only identifiable as such in Tesco, where the salmon is identified as usually coming from the Clare Island farm. However, when Clare Island salmon is not available, Tesco substitute it with organic salmon from Scottish farms. It is most likely that consumers simply pick up packs of whichever organic salmon is currently available in much the same way that customers buying TTD chicken select the first chicken that comes to hand or is the right price, rather than looking to see whether it comes from ‘Ridgeway’, ‘Hellinghayes’, ‘Penleaze’ or ‘Bluehaze’.
Taste the Difference: According to Fish Farming International. Haluk Tuncer, president of Akuvatur Mediterranean Seafoods, growers of sea bass and sea bream aim to grow fish that taste as good as those caught in the wild. He said that most consumers view chicken as just chicken. This is because it doesn’t matter where it is produced; it looks and tastes the same. He believes that many consumers accept the same view for sea bass and sea bream.
However, Mr Tuncer has looked to the French market and has seen that some chicken produced there is targeted at the luxury market and he thinks that he can do the same for sea bass and sea bream. We, at Callander McDowell think that this is easier said than done.
There is no doubt that most chicken does taste the same because they are fed on a standard ration and reared in similar ways. The UK market has also differentiated some chicken and these usually fall into three different types; corn fed, free range and organic. In France, premium chicken is usually produced under Label Rouge. Corn fed chickens do look and taste different because their rations are supplemented with corn. The flesh takes on a yellow colour and has a different flavour. Free range chickens are allowed to roam around the farm and are not kept inside. They can access natural food and also have the opportunity to roam freely allowing muscle to be exercised which also adds to the flavour. Organic chickens are only fed natural foods and are allowed even greater access to the outdoors. This allows the taste to develop further.
Whether such ideals can be adapted to fish farms is unclear. Some salmon farms are sited in fast running water to ensure that the fish must swim against the currents and in doing so burn off excess fat. Taste is another matter as most fish diets are already rich in fish meal which ensures that the eating characteristics remain as fish from the wild. Substitution of fish meal with other proteins may adversely affect the flavour but certainly, the taste can be changed. Whether the changes are what the consumer would expect remains to be seen.
Callander McDowell are passionate advocates of differentiated product. We are just not sure that this is the type of differentiation that the market wants.