SPAIN
Tunamar is approaching fifteen years in the tuna industry
Fishing, processing and Europe-wide distribution of sashimi-grade tuna Tunamar, a subsidiary of Atunes del Maresme, is a company based in Cadiz, Spain, that specialises in sashimi-grade Atlantic tuna. Tunamar distributes its products through its sister Company, AVTS, throughout Europe. The two companies are part of the August Topfer group, a German company based in Hamburg. Origins of the catch Tunamar has a fleet of 137 fishing vessels and 8 merchant vessels. The tuna caught comes from four different species Albacore, Yellowfin, Skipjack and Bigeye tuna. Tunamar’s Cadiz operation started in 2000 and specialises in sashimi tuna products. Almost all of Tunamar’s tuna comes from the Atlantic. A few Spanish vessels are fishing in the Pacific and the company gets some of that fish as well. Half the Atlantic fish is caught by Spanish vessels, while the other half is vessels flying the flags of Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Namibia. Once the fish are caught, they are gutted and gilled and blast frozen to -60°C. They are then discharged in West Africa, packed to EU specifications and end up at the processing factory in Cadiz in the Cadiz Port Free Zone area.
Product processing and distribution The Tunamar facility covers an area of 3,500 m2 and includes its own pier, a storage facility that can keep 1,000 tonnes of product at -60°C, a 1,500 m2 refrigerated processing area and an
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800 m2 logistics area for the loading and unloading of trucks. In addition, the company supplies Spanish canning factories with 7-8,000 tonnes of Albacore tuna a year. Bigeye, Yellowfin tuna and swordfish raw material amounts to a further 5,000 tonnes a year. Once at the factory in Cadiz, the fish is skinned and boned and processed into loins, fillets and steaks and packed into 25kg cartons, these are then distributed to markets across Europe, although a large amount of sales occur in Spain. A significant portion of products are still frozen when exported and are sold to wholesalers who then sell the products to supermarkets who most often use them when they run out of fresh fish. Tunamar uses the latest processing equipment to provide a high quality end product and have been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council to process, store and distribute MSC certified fish.
Expanding into wild salmon Jurgen Smet, the company’s owner, also reported that they are doing tests on MSC certified Alaskan salmon which could
Jurgen Smet, Tunamar, is testing the market for products from MSCcertified Alaskan salmon, which will expand the main business.
add another important product to the company’s portfolio. The same production and distribution model could be used, with only a modest factory extension needed. Further, the packaging
would be the same, trays with a film around them, and, most importantly, the price for this product would be reasonable by southern European standards.
Tunamar Company Fact File Recinto Interior Zona Franca Muelle Ribera S/N 1101 Cadiz, Spain Tel.: +34 956 200 971 Fax: +34 956 200 972 antonio@tunamar.eu www.tunamar.eu
Activities: Supply of sashimigrade frozen Yellowfin, Bigeye, Albacore tuna, swordfish, mahi mahi, and mako shark from the Atlantic; Skipjack tuna from the Pacific, Product form: Frozen or thawed loins, steaks, fillets, skewers
Managing director: Mr. Jurgen Smet
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