Dec
8
Galicia, Spain-based canning company Frinsa del Noroeste is noticing a growing concern on sustainable tuna in Southern European markets, two company’s executives told Undercurrent News.
North European countries are showing a greater interest in tuna sustainability issues, a concern that is also taking roots in Southern Europe, Jose Zarzalejos, chief corporate officer at Frinsa said.
The trend is expected to benefit Finsa, since it claims to be “a step ahead” from competitors in sustainability measures, the company’s head of sustainability Jose Aller told Undercurrent.
Frinsa, the third largest Spanish operator in the canned fish industry, recently became the first Spanish company within the sector to join forces with Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP).
The tuna canner was also the first Spanish company that joined the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) in 2010, just one year after the creation of the body addressing tuna sustainability challenges.
“When the sustainability trend gains momentum in consumers from countries such as Spain and Italy, it will see us very well prepared,” Zarzalejos said.
Frinsa is known as one of the main suppliers of private label canned fish and shellfish in Europe. In Spain, the company is present in some of Spain’s biggest supermarket distributors, from Alcampo and Carrefour to El Corte Ingles.
Although sustainability is part of the company’s strategic lines, with no budget limits, the fact that retailers use Frinsa products under their own brand has pushed the tuna operator to put an even higher focus on these issues, Zarzalejos said.
“Retailers will always be more concerned about those products sold under their own brand,” Zarzalejos said.
In case a producer of a particular brand were targeted by green lobbies in regards to sustainability, for instance, there would not be a direct identification between the brand and retailers, so the producer would have to deal with the problem.
However, the situation changes when it comes to private labels. If a negative story on sustainability hits the headlines “it will hit retailers first,” Zarzalejos said.
“If retailers come across with a quality or sustainability problem in products of their own brand, this will affect not only this product line, but also the image of the whole supermarket chain,” Zarzalejos said.
Retailers, then, pay more attention on private labels operators than the rest of producers since “with their own brand, they have a special responsibility”.
“We have unexpected visits in the plant, from the quality audit team of all our clients. [Retailers] don’t do this with any other supplier of branded products,” Zarzalejos said.
“This is why we are at the cutting edge in technology, quality and sustainability. We have a double pressure from final consumers but also the [supermarket] chain,” Zarzalejos said.
Communicational challenge
Although sustainability concerns retailers, final consumers’ involvement in these issues depends on each country’s vision, culture and education.
“Where tuna is more consumed [Spain, Italy], there’s more quality. However, these countries don’t are as concerned on sustainability as other markets such as the UK, Germany or Belgium,” Aller said.
Consumers in South Europe are aware about sustainability, but then, in their buying decision process, they see a 15% to 20% price increase in sustainable tuna products.
“This is when there is a disconnection between what the customer thinks and what he eventually does. Particularly now, when consumers are so price sensitive,” Zarzalejos said.
“But the fault is ours, not the consumer, since we are not explaining to the final consumer why sustainable products are more expensive,” he said.
Tuna canners need to explain then why sustainable products are more expensive, why other fishing methods or full traceability increase production costs, so customers in South Europe understand the price gap between non sustainable and sustainable products, Zarzalejos said.
In Spain, retailers base its promotions on three products: milk, olive oil and canned tuna, making a “totally perverse market dynamic.”
“It’s a complete nonsense that canned tuna, with the complexity that this product has, is continuously on sale as a claim, as a hook for consumers,” Zarzalejos said.
“This happens because consumers don’t know either the [tuna] product, or its origin. If they knew this, they would understand this is not sustainable,” he said.
“The main challenge the tuna industry faces is a challenge of communication, to add value to the product,” Zarzalejos said.
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