POLAND
Stanpol processes and trades in Baltic and Atlantic cod, as well as salmon
A family-owned business, run by three generations The company Stanpol has been processing and exporting ďŹ sh, mainly fresh and frozen Baltic cod, and Atlantic cod and salmon, for 28 years from its production facilities in Bialogard in north west Poland.
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nlike many of the fish processing companies in Poland Stanpol eschews the manufacture of herring products, preferring to concentrate on higher margin items such as fillets and portions of Baltic cod, Atlantic cod, and Atlantic salmon. At its retail outlet, however, at the factory gate in Bialogard marinates from other producers together with fresh, smoked, frozen, and battered products are available.
Poor catches of Baltic cod cause a switch in production to flounder Salmon, mostly from Norway, is processed into fresh, frozen,
portions, and smoked products. The smokehouse is built connected to but isolated from the main building where the processing is carried out so that there is no risk of any mix up with the fresh fish processing. The second processing unit is a short drive from the first and it is the site for the production of cod and other fish from the Baltic as well as some Atlantic cod. Baltic cod catches have been poor this year with fewer fish and smaller sizes, so the company has been processing other fish instead such as flounder. In previous years January was the high season for catches of Baltic cod, but now partly due to changing weather conditions the
catches are very much lower, says Jerzy Safader, the owner of Stanpol. About 90 of the raw material used by the Polish processing industry is imported, he adds. Mr Safader has a second role as president of the Polish Association of Fish Processors, a body which this year will celebrate its 20th anniversary. For the second time running the association together with the Polish Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation and have organised a joint pavilion in 2018 at Seafood Expo Global, where Polish processors will exhibit. The pavilion meets a longstanding request from the association and
Three generations of the Safader family that owns Stanpol. Marzena Safader, vice president; Jerzy Safader, president; and Karolina Gach, who is responsible for sales.
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its business partners to have all the Polish companies under one roof rather than spread out over several halls. The association is funded by a set fee each year which finances all its activities and represents the overwhelming majority of the seafood processing sector. In 1998, before Poland joined the EU, the fisheries sector was facing a lot of difficulties exporting to the EU. At that time only three Polish companies were allowed to export to the EU. According to Mr Safader, the authorities were so nervous about all the rules that had to be implemented if companies wanted to export to the EU, that they were holding the whole industry back. Controls were so strict that the industry decided to seek strength in numbers and get together as a group. In a way it was the authorities themselves that instigated the establishment of the association. While the authorities were reluctant to engage with individual companies, they were more responsive to the association, which became an increasingly important voice for the industry. When Poland joined the EU in 2004 the association oversaw the huge development in the processing sector that started then. Today, the association has a good relationship with the authorities, whom it has managed to convince that it is in the best interests of the &VSPl TI ).)A05,