Check out the text in red!! Any Brits out there, be wary of what you eat!!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3289667a1864,00.html
Rosy future for seafood
23 May 2005
The audience at the annual seafood conference last week was told changing habits are creating opportunities for the industry, writes Adrian Bathgate.
Fresh fish is riding a culinary wave.
In London, young professional people with high discretionary income but low amounts of spare time want a meal that is quick to prepare and healthy.
It's a scene that market research shows has already begun to be played out, and the prediction is that it's a trend that will continue.
Fish might even be the new chicken.
Last week, more than 400 delegates gathered to hear words of optimism about New Zealand's ability to compete and supply into this equation.
Problems that have plagued the $1.2 billion industry in the past few years have been well documented. The kiwi dollar has skyrocketed into territory almost unthought of in the halcyon days when it was at US45c.
Prices for fish have remained stable while the biggest ongoing cost to operators, fuel, has also risen. Although the rise in the kiwi has offset this impact to some degree, fishing companies are faced with a different cost structure to that of a few years ago.
Fishing operators are facing the prospect that the conditions they are operating under are structural not cyclical, with neither the United States dollar nor the cost of oil showing any signs of returning to former levels.
This is significant because this is the year that many operators' currency hedging arrangements begin to expire, meaning they will bear the full brunt of currency changes.
But a recent review of the sector done by the ANZ Bank says "fundamentally the sector looks sound".
It says the supply side, governed by the quota management system, has established a sustainable management system which will provide long-term security at a time when some international stocks are in danger of collapsing.
Also late last year the Aquaculture Reform Bill was passed, lifting a moratorium on new developments. However, strict controls were placed around new marine farming developments.
The ANZ says the industry is set to "ride the cyclical trough" and its sustainable foundations give it a solid longer-term outlook.
The great opportunity for seafood is based around consumers, and the changing face of both society and the way we eat, says Ed Garner, communications director with the British arm of research giant TNS.
These changes will not be news to New Zealanders, as they can be seen here. Basically, more people live alone, on average they earn more and are willing to sacrifice cost for convenience and quality. The so-called breakdown of the nuclear family is well known. Now, 50 per cent of "meal occasions" take place alone, compared to 15% 20 years ago.
Perhaps the statistic which can best encapsulate the seafood opportunity is that average meal preparation times have dropped from 60 minutes in the 1980s to 19 minutes in 2003.
Meals are becoming "lighter", using fresh produce, often picked up on the way home from work. This is especially true of younger, more wealthy and more health-conscious consumers.
What these changes represent is a potential move away from the mainstay of exporting – frozen fish – towards fresh or chilled fish. Not only that, but fish which is pre- processed and ready to cook straight out of the packet.
Garner says looking at the research, these are the consumers who will pay more money, more often, for a premium quality product.
Even though Garner has looked mostly at the British market, obvious parallels can be drawn with lifestyle changes evident in the wider European and North American markets. Europe takes about 20% of New Zealand's seafood.
In 1997, British consumers spent about 659 million ($NZ1.7 billion) on chilled fish and slightly less than that on frozen fish. In 2005, expenditure on chilled fish had risen to 1.1b, but frozen had only risen to 711m.
Garner said the indications are this market will continue its steep growth curve of about 10 to 15% a year.
The ANZ says this demand for seafood could lead to a lift in prices. The increasing Chinese market and resurgent European and American markets could also lead to export growth which is less cyclical than other commodities.
The challenge now is to get Kiwi fish in front of these consumers.
New Zealand has a natural advantage it should play on, the clean, green quality image already present in front of the British consumer in products such as lamb, says Jeremy Horton, category development manager of Young's Bluecrest, Britain's largest seafood chain.
This is combined with the fact the average British consumer is getting more adventurous in the foods they will eat, Horton says.
Young's Bluecrest does catch some of its supplies itself, but it is increasingly sourcing fish from outside Europe. "A key part is making the right connections, getting that product into the restaurants and onto the shelves," says Ross Graham, a New Zealand Trade and Enterprise sector specialist.
Kiwi fish is already present in Britain, but the opportunity is there. While concerns over the state of the cod fishery lingers, opportunity for whitefish such as Hoki remains.
Many New Zealand players already have a degree of presence in Britain and will be looking to the opportunities, says
Owen Symmans, chief executive of the Seafood Industry Council.
Horton advocates development of the "New Zealand brand" when it comes to seafood, as the British consumer still does not associate New Zealand with fresh seafood. He says many Kiwi exporters already have the initial contacts – it's just waiting for someone to try to grow the market opportunity with consumers themselves.
"In theory, New Zealand has a massive opportunity to grow its presence, not just in Britain but in Europe as well."
He says one of the biggest opportunity is in shellfish. This is a relatively new area to the British market, but one that is driving the growth in fresh seafood.
Seafood is enjoying a resurgence in Britain and the US, driven by government recommendations about the health benefits.
While the positive benefits of fish can be countered by negative images of overfishing, or the dangers of high levels of mercury in some fish, by and large the industry has a good image.
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SNORT