reLAKSation 261. Callander McDowell
Can't win! Poor Prince Charles. Whatever he tries to do, he cannot seem to do the right thing. The Scotsman reports that the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation has accused the Prince of Wales of snubbing Scottish salmon after it was revealed that he has ordered Alaskan fish to sell through his food company.
As usual, where market issues are concerned, the SSPO have already missed the boat. Not only has the Prince's food company ordered Alaskan salmon, but it has already been delivered, smoked and is being sold by Sainsbury's through a limited number of their stores.
The SSPO told the Scotsman that their members would have liked the opportunity to show the Duchy what they have to offer but that was never going to happen despite what the SSPO might think. Prince Charles is known to have concerns about farmed salmon. After all he is from a family of well known game fishermen. He is also a patron of the Atlantic Salmon Trust which blames salmon farming for putting the future of wild salmon at risk.
In addition, since 2002, the Duchy has been working with the Marine Stewardship Council to develop a range of products to help support sustainable fisheries. They already sell mackerel pate produced under the MSC. It was therefore a natural step to look to the MSC for a source of sustainable salmon for the Duchy's new smoked salmon.
However, by sourcing salmon approved by the MSC, Prince Charles has made himself open to criticism. We, at Callander McDowell have previously argued that it makes little sense to source sustainable fish, if it then has to be flown half way round the world to reach its customers. As an advocate of organic and local food production, sourcing fish from Alaska does not sit well with the Prince's ideals especially as on his website, the Duchy states that another reason for working with the MSC is to support local fishing economies in Britain.
Clearly, the best compromise would have been to source salmon from an organic farm. Recently, the Soil Association gave its full approval to organic salmon farming and this should have been sufficient incentive to review the Duchy's sourcing policy on salmon. According to The Scotsman, organic salmon seems good enough for his mother. The Prince put organic Hebridean smoked salmon on the menu when he organised a private party to celebrate the Queens 80th birthday. If it’s good enough for his mother, it should be good enough for his customers.
However, even if he chose to use organic salmon in the Duchy's products, the Prince had more choice the just Scottish. Young's, who smoked the salmon for the Prince, have just announced the launch of a premium organic smoked salmon with the salmon sourced from Glenarm in Northern Ireland, still within the Prince's realm.
Organic- not at any price: Salmon prices remain high in most British supermarkets despite some discounting and promotional activity. We, at Callander McDowell, have recorded just one example where the price of salmon has been reduced otherwise consumers will have to continue digging deep in their pockets if they want to eat salmon or do they?
We have previously referred to an apparent discrepancy in salmon prices which has appeared across the whole supermarket sector. Whilst the price of traditional salmon has sky rocketed upwards, the price of organic salmon has remained relatively stable so that in many stores, organic salmon is now cheaper than traditional salmon, although this is something that many consumers have failed to notice.
It has been suggested that following the last dumping complaint, several smaller farmers in Scotland decided to convert to organic production with the expectation of both growing demand and higher prices. This expectation does not seem to have materialised despite the market hype about organic products. This is the only conclusion that can be drawn from the recent observation that all the main supermarkets had placed organic salmon on price promotion to encourage sales. However, it must also be said that these discounts on organic salmon coincided with a national organic food promotion at the beginning of September.
Interestingly, this problem with organic pricing is not restricted just to salmon but seems to have affected the recently launched organic cod. When Tesco began to stock organic cod, they did so at an introductory price with savings of up to £3/kg. Now some three months later, packs of organic cod in Tesco are still priced at the introductory offer. Sainsbury’s also stock organic cod and they too offered the fish at a reduced price at launch. The shelf label advertising this discount advises customers that the offer would run only until the 8th August, yet a month later, organic cod in Sainsbury’s is still available at the discount price. Of the three supermarkets to stock organic cod, only Booths did not offer a discount at launch. Their packs were selling at between £20 and £23/kg depending on whether the fish was skin on or skinless. These prices were double the cost of wild caught cod. It is unclear as to why, but organic cod has become increasingly difficult to find. In fact we have not seen any during a number of recent store visits. This may be due to shortages of supply but equally, it could be that whilst consumers are prepared to buy organic fish, they are not willing to do so at any price?
Wildly confusing: In a previous issue of reLAKSation, we discussed whether Birds Eye misled their customers by advertising their salmon products as containing wild Pacific salmon. This is because there are five, not one, Pacific salmon species, all of which are very different, especially with regard to taste. However, it is not just Birds Eye that appears to be guilty of adding to this confusion. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute has been actively promoting wild Alaskan salmon and this terminology has filtered down through the supply chain to the retailers. It is not until the ASMI website is examined closely that it becomes apparent that they acknowledge that there are five different species of Pacific salmon. It is not surprising that there is so much confusion.
Responding to the news that 43% of the fish consumed by humans now comes from aquaculture, John Fiorillo, writing in IntraFish, has suggested that it will not be too long before wild caught fish evolve into an ever more exclusive niche. He believes that farmed fish will be for everyday consumption whereas wild fish will become more costly and be eaten only on special occasions. We, at Callander McDowell, are not so convinced.
Mr Fiorillo argues that proof of such developments can be seen with salmon. He believes that farmed salmon, with its consistent pricing and availability has allowed many consumers to get their first taste of salmon. These consumers were then motivated to move beyond farmed fish and try the wild variety, prompted by the marketing story and added mystique. This is certainly not true of the UK. Most British consumers had their first taste of salmon as the wild form from cans and then, encouraged by the appearance of value for money fresh salmon, went on to try the fresh farmed variety.
However, the real weakness of Mr Fiorillo’s argument is the confusion between wild and farmed salmon. He says that it is possible to see evidence of his theory at any Costco store. Where once the mega retailer carried only slabs of farmed salmon, it now sells sockeye as well. This may be likely at Costco stores in the US, but this week, our local Costco was only selling farmed Atlantic salmon.
It may seem to Mr Fiorillo that Costco has differentiated between wild and farmed salmon but the reality is that the difference is really between Atlantic and Sockeye salmon. Consumers are likely to be even more confused when farmed varieties of Pacific species such as Coho become more prevalent in the marketplace. Are these fish wild in common with other Pacific species or farmed as with the Atlantics. In the UK, the situation becomes even more confusing because wild Atlantic salmon do come to market. Most consumers probably believe this is the wild salmon they are buying when they are buying wild Pacific salmon. Most see salmon as being just salmon.
Salmon are therefore not really the best example of demonstrating that wild fish could be perceived as being exclusive. It is likely that the wild caught varieties of some high value species could generate a higher price in the marketplace. In fact some already do. This is because some chefs have questioned the ethics of farming fish. However as with salmon, once the farmed varieties become so ubiquitous in the marketplace, it is probably the case that these species are no longer viewed as being so exclusive anyway. The potential for extra margin will be lost. Wild salmon poachers have already complained that the presence of farmed salmon in the marketplace has devalued the price they get for their illicit gains!