(IntraFish) Pangasius is now the number one consumed fish in the Netherlands, replacing canned tuna. Consumption of pangasius from Vietnam in the Netherlands in 2011 was just over 5,500 metric tons, up from 4,600 metric tons the previous year, according to the Dutch Fish Promotion Board.
This takes pangasius to the top of the list of seafood consumed in the Netherlands, with canned tuna dropping to number two.
Fresh consumption is flat at around 1,000 metric tons, but frozen consumption is booming, up from 3,600 metric tons in 2010 to 4,500 metric tons in 2011.
Queens Products, the largest pangasius supplier to the Dutch market, saw volumes of frozen pangasius increase from 2,100 metric tons in 2010 to 2,900 metric tons in 2011.
Queens only deals with one supplier in Vietnam, Vinh Hoan. “We haven’t bought one kilo from elsewhere,” Harry Hoogendoorn, its managing director, told IntraFish.
Queens Products plans to switch completely to Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC)-certified pangasius and tilapia.
“We will give consumers and buyers no choice. So we move completely with both tilapia and panga to ASC, when it is available,” Harry Hoogendoorn, its managing director, told IntraFish.
The non-GlobalGap tilapia is at the moment red listed on the Dutch fish guide, said Hoogendoorn.
This will have an impact on prices, as producing according to ASC standards means much higher costs, he said.
The challenge for 2012 will be to explain to the consumer what ASC is. Most of the consumers do not know the difference between farmed fish and wild-catch.
Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified fish is now well known, he said. “When a new logo appears, maybe it is confusing for the consumer.”