Tough time ahead in salmon market
BRITAIN’S salmon producers are going to face a new marketing challenge during the next five years as home farm production moves towards 3,000 tonnes a year and the Norwegians expand their annual output to about 16,000 tonnes.
‘Current fast developments in the farming of Atlantic salmon make it likely that supplies will grow from last years 5000 tonne level to 19,000 tonnes by 1985,’ Mr Des Brady, sales and marketing manager of the Unilever company, Marine Harvest, told the Oban conference.
‘The Norwegians will be producing something of the order of 16,000 tonnes while the UK contribution will be 3,000 tonnes.
‘These increased tonnages alone will set new challenges for the marketing man.’
Mr Brady pointed out that the production of a quality article, marketing co-operatives, and an aggressive approach would all feature in meeting the challenge which lay ahead.
‘It is essential that your marketing generates the profits necessary for continued growth,’ he said. ‘Aggressive marketing is not a dirty expres-
It is essential that your marketing generates the profits necessary
for continued growth”
sion; it is necessary.
‘Producers would need to be aware of the whole range of marketing considerations taking in market research, product development, pricing and profit, branding and packaging, sales and distribution, advertising and sales promotions, new products and planning.
‘This may not be an exhaustive list but it will serve as a very good check list for anyone wishing to learn more about the subject’, he said. ‘You will need to decide your own marketing priorities to achieve goals you set.
‘Not unnaturally all salmon producers should set out with the prime motive of producing the “best possible salmon.”’
Disastrous
‘And you cannot afford to relax for a moment,’ said Mr Brady. ‘For 51 weeks of the year you can do everything right but the week you do it wrong the trade will take you to task with disastrous results on your profits both then and later.’
Unfortunately there had been some trade resistance in the past to farmed salmon.
‘We can only suspect this arises from a desire to pressurise farmers to release their salmon onto the market at prices well below that of the wild species’, he said. ‘We often hear the comment that of course farmed salmon is not as good as wild. Yet when questioned on the reasoning behind this statement is usually boils down to being “different”.
‘If it is only different then it certainly does not justify a price disadvantage. There is no doubt that farmed salmon has many advantages and it is only by good marketing that the trade will be persuaded.’
Mr Brady accepted that some small farmers could argue that they didn’t have the resources, man power or finances to carry through sophisticated marketing projects.
‘This is probably true,’ he said, ‘but the truth also remains that unless you can solve the problems your profitability could be at risk.’
Undoubtedly one of the possible answers for such producers was co-operation.
‘This can take the form of alignment with an organisation with the necessary marketing expertise.’