ESTONIA
Japs catches, processes, and sells European perch and pike-perch
Vertical integration enables complete control of quality Japs is among Estonia’s leading companies in the fish processing sector in terms of the quantities of raw material processed and the number of employees. The company is vertically integrated with its own fishing vessels, processing facilities, as well as marketing, sales and distribution.
E
uropean perch (Perca fluviatilis) and pike-perch (Sander lucioperca) are two highly valued fish species that are exported from Estonia mainly as fresh and frozen fillets. Catches of European perch are primarily from the Lake Peipsi and the coastal Baltic Sea. The relative abundance of perch has been a mixed blessing for the company. Arved Soovik, the owner and Helle Nuut, the sales manager say that the market is not big enough to absorb all the fish that is being caught, which has pushed prices down a little.
The market for perch is in Europe Japs exports some 90 of its production, which apart from European perch and pike-perch also includes Baltic herring, eel and pike. Volumes of the latter are, however, much smaller than those of the first two. The company’s markets are in Europe of which Switzerland, Italy, France, and Germany, are the most important. With the appreciation of the dollar against the euro Japs is now also considering exporting to the United States, a market with which it has not been working for a couple of years. Japs tries to supply fish all the year around clients appreciate this. Pike-perch however is a seasonal fish. European perch too is 50
Eurofish Magazine 2 / 2015
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Japs is one of Estonia’s leading fish processors specialising in freshwater species.
seasonal, however when the winter is mild, as it has been this year (2014/2015) the water in the Pärnu Bay and the Lake Peipsi does not freeze and the fish can be caught all the year around. This has both advantages and disadvantages, says Ms Nuut. On the one hand we can catch more, but on the other there is more fish in the market and demand, particularly for frozen fillets, is stable. But for fresh fillets the market is more buoyant. Fresh fillets amount to roughly two-thirds of the company’s production, while frozen cover the remainder. In either case the fillets can be with skin on or skin off. The company also does limited quantities of whole fish, as well as gutted and scaled fish. Fresh fillets are typically packaged in three and five kg
boxes on ice, while the types of packaging for frozen fillets can be vacuum packages or individually quick frozen (IQF) pieces in a polybag. The company’s customers are mainly importers in the destination countries who are responsible for the distribution to the final buyer. But increasingly producers are shipping directly to the final customer, says Helle Nuut. This is not the only change that Japs is experiencing. In general the last few years has seen an increase in the number of producers – both fishermen and processing units – partly due to the availability of support from the European Union, which has meant an increase in competition. This development is not restricted to
Estonia, but can also be seen in other countries, such as Poland. However, most of these producers cannot offer the same quality and stability that Japs has built up since it was established in 1992. In addition to competition within Estonia, the economic crisis on many of the company’s markets has led consumers to explore cheaper species of fish. Perch and pike-perch are expensive because they are wild-caught and because most of the processing work is still done by hand. Other white fish species that are farmed in other parts of the world are often cheaper alternatives and in the current economic climate the company can feel this. The market for fresh and frozen European perch and pike-perch fish fillets is not a big one and for many years www.eurofishmagazine.com
27/03/15 7:59 PM