Callander McDowell
Callander McDowell
reLAKSation no 422
Envy the envoy: IntraFish report that the promotion of Norwegian salmon has kicked off in America with the ‘Norwegian Salmon Experience’, a two hour educational event for chefs and restaurateurs held at New York’s Institute of Culinary Education. This promotion was considered a great success, but rather undermined, by one of the organisers from The Food Group, who afterwards wrote on Twitter about still ‘smelling’ of salmon. It’s good that they have someone working so hard to promote the positive image of salmon. The Food Group describes itself as a company providing innovative food marketing that will whet customer appetites. In this case, they appear to be more intent in doing the opposite.
NSEC also recruited Norwegian master chef Sven Erik Renna to help improve the image of Norwegian salmon. He told Fiskeribladet Fiskaren that he was personally ‘a bit tired’ of salmon in the 80s and 90s but now he is using more (perhaps because he is being paid to do so!). However, we are rather puzzled by his claim of being tired of salmon because according to the website aperitif.no, Chef Renaa was only born in 1971. He hardly seems to have had any time to tire of anything by the 1990’s, let alone salmon. Børge Gronbech of NSEC’s US office said that powerful interests have run campaigns against farmed salmon in the American market, but these campaigns seem nothing when those engaged to promote salmon imply that it is tired, boring and smelly.
Despite these minor setbacks, the ‘Norwegian Salmon Experience’ was also used as an opportunity to introduce three American chefs as the ‘Norwegian Seafood Ambassadors’ for 2010. What qualifies these chefs as Ambassadors for Norwegian salmon is unclear, especially as two of the three don’t even have salmon on their restaurant menus and the third that does, prefers to use Scottish salmon. One of the specialties cooked by Bradford McDonald, Executive Chef at Crabtree’s Kittle House is pan roasted Scottish salmon fillet with cranberry beans, baby arugula puree and roasted garlic buerre blanc.
Crabtree’s Kittle House (The Kittle House is a house that was once owned by the Kittle family) is in Chappaqua NY and the other two Ambassadors work in New York City, as was the venue for the Norwegian Salmon Experience. The charity to which NSEC donated 2000 salmon portions is also based there too. It does seem that this attempt to place Norwegian salmon in the US market is rather New York-centric. This is rather surprising since the Food Group has five offices across the United States.
One of the future roles of these ambassadors could be to participate in a series of cookery ‘webisodes’ and ‘webinars’, no doubt intended to demonstrate the benefits of cooking with Norwegian salmon. Although this will be more widely available across the US, the internet is already jam-packed with recipes and cookery demonstrations so this approach is unlikely to stand out from the rest.
The Alaskan Seafood Marketing Institute have recently announced a similar attempt to connect with potential consumers with the launch of their new consumer website dedicated to the frozen sector of the market. According to Seafoodsource, this will include practical demonstrations of different recipes for a variety of species including salmon. The internet has opened up the door to a wide range of information about cooking and eating fish, yet fish and seafood consumption is falling in the US. We doubt whether yet another series of cookery demonstrations will do much to reverse this trend. We wonder whether a big push to promote Norwegian salmon will simply reflect what is happening in the market. Consumers, who want to buy salmon, will choose Norwegian because, for the time being, that is what is available. To most consumers salmon is just salmon, irrespective of its origin. This is despite claims made by Niel Sandfort of the Food Group who has previously claimed that the origin of Norwegian salmon gives it an automatic advantage in the marketplace. He said that Norwegian salmon is engrained in US culture so when consumers see it for sale, they immediately think ‘superior’. Yet, as our own observations of the US retail sector indicate, Norwegian salmon is discounted in exactly the same way as salmon from any other origin (reLAKSation no 416).
We, at Callander McDowell, certainly believe that it’s going to take something a little more special than its origin or seafood ambassadors to keep Norwegian salmon permanently on US menus.
High price: For the second time in recent months, the French Association of Salmon Smokers has complained about the high price of farmed salmon. They argue that high prices not only make salmon too expensive to smoke but that it will also deter consumers from buying it. As smoked salmon is a key part of the French market, they believe that unless prices come down, the market for smoked products may start to shrink. Producers may not consider this to be too much of a problem due to the current emphasis on the US market, but as production recovers, they may be glad of every bit of the market that they can get.
Fortunately, French salmon smokers may not have to complain for much longer as spot prices appear to be in decline. This is because more fish are now being released on to the market in anticipation of increased Christmas demand. There is concern amongst some producers that as this demand takes hold, prices may not rise as anticipated. At one time, prices rose significantly in the run up to Christmas but as more fish were targeted at Christmas production, subsequent price rises have never really emulated those of years ago. In some years, prices have failed to rise at all. This has been exacerbated by low prices throughout the year with the result that fish have been held back in anticipation of a year end rise. However, as many producers have had the same thought, any rise has failed to materialise due to too many fish coming to market at the same time.
This year prices have been strong and thus they would be expected to remain stronger. However, production has increased to compensate for the Chilean shortfall and as a result, prices may remain weak for the rest of the year. This wouldn’t be such a bad thing as it would stimulate market growth.
In the UK, the Observer newspaper reports that consumers have now deserted the cheap discount stores and are returning to their old buying habits. Sales of ready meals are increasing again especially at the luxury end of the market. This growth will also bring a return of more dishes containing salmon. However, if prices remain too high, these ready meals will be made from wild Pink salmon and not farmed Atlantics. Once consumers get used to the revised recipes, it will be harder to persuade manufacturers to return to farmed salmon when prices become more acceptable to processors.
It makes much more sense if producers work to a consistent margin rather than try to play the spot market. Just like the stock market, this can be a very risky strategy not just for individual producers but for the industry as a whole. High prices will not remain for ever.
Rebirth: Back in August, the CEO of Marine Harvest Chile, Alvaro Jiminez, told IntraFish that whilst the Chilean salmon industry will recover, it will never return to its former level. He said that this was because the previous levels of production were never sustainable. He added that if the new strict regulations about fallowing are adhered to, it is likely that Chilean production will reach only about 50% of its former level, unless new areas are brought into production.
Mr Jiminez may not be so optimistic for the future but clearly others are. According to FIS com, the salmon company Salmones Multiexport has applied to extend production around Teuquelin Island in the Region of Los Lagos. They hope to produce an extra 5,600 tonnes a year.
Chile has been through a bad time, but the salmon industry will recover and is likely to be much stronger having learnt from this costly experience. Companies such as Multiexport recognise that they need to change strategy adapting to the new rules and regulations. These will not place limitations on the national output just change the way it will be achieved.
Mr Jiminez should be able to recognise this as his company Marine Harvest has announced plans to establish the first off-shore farms in Scotland. Alan Sutherland, Mr Jiminez’s counterpart in Scotland, said that the company believes that the future lies in farming off-shore. He hopes to use systems that are already operational in Canada and Norway. Surely, the same opportunities for expansion exist in Chile, not necessarily right now but certainly in the future. Mr Jiminez said that the previous levels were unsustainable and they might well have been. However, with a new approach, we, at Callander McDowell are convinced that Chile will not only reach the previous production levels but will surpass them.
Mr Jiminez also believes that Chilean salmon must move away from being the cheapest in the market. He said that Chile can no longer win just on price but on adding value and quality. This may be true but quality and added value must also come at the right price and this is where Chile can still win.