ESTONIA
Avektra expands its factory and product line
The unceasing search for new markets Avektra is a 15-year-old Estonian company specialised in processing Norwegian salmon and trout, which is frozen, smoked and marinated for sale on markets in Western Europe.
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vektra started in 2000 as a trader of fish products, mainly whitefish such as hake and other species, as well as salmon. After researching different possibilities for expansion the company decided to establish a processing unit.
Salmon gradually replaces other fish in assortment In 2006, the company built a factory in Tallinn in the Technopark for the production of processed fish. Today the company has expanded the facility to accommodate an increase in production. Our numbers have improved each year, says Gennadi Smelov, the Commercial Director, whether you look at profits, turnover, or production. One of the reasons behind this development was the increasing role salmon played in the company’s product assortment. Salmon was increasingly interesting for us, explains Mr Smelov, not only because of its popularity on the domestic market, but also because it was highly sought after in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. The new processing facility was equipped with the help of EU funds, which the company used to buy brand new machinery from well-known names on the market. 56
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This year (2015) too the company will use European funds to invest in an additional filleting line for salmon as well as a smokehouse to process salmon, sea trout, and possibly also mackerel. EU funds, to which the company has already applied twice, and now plans to apply for a third time, have been extremely useful, says Mr Smelov. However, as the products increased in sophistication it became more difficult to sell them on its former markets in the CIS countries. Our main products, salmon portions and fillets, are difficult to sell on the Russian market, but demand is high there for salmon by-products, including belly flaps, trimmings, and back bones, says Mr Smelov. Demand was so strong that the company not only supplied the by-products from its own salmon production, but also bought from other companies.
By-products, however, only constitute some 10 of Avektra’s business. The bulk of the production is of frozen salmon portions and fillets, and marinated products. Part is sold locally, but most, about 90, is being exported, primarily to Sweden, but also Denmark, Finland, Germany, Spain, and Portugal. All the raw material is
purchased fresh from Norway, as this is what the customers specify. Deliveries from Norway to Tallinn take two to three days and the processing itself takes another two days so that the final product is made from a very fresh fish. Salmon prices have climbed steeply in the last few months.
Gennadi Smelov, Commercial Director, Avektra
Asia replaces Russian market for by-products Today, with the imposition of sanctions and counter sanctions, the situation has changed again and it is currently impossible to sell any of the company’s products to Russia. This poses another challenge, says Mr Smelov, but it also has pushed the company into looking for other markets. We have discovered that parts of Asia, for example, China and Vietnam, are markets for these by-products.
New machinery in the processing facility was equipped with support from EU funds. This year Avektra plan on investing in another filleting line for salmon. www.eurofishmagazine.com
27/03/15 7:59 PM