How did pangasius win such huge popularity in the Netherlands, a nation with historically low seafood consumption?
Lower overall consumption in the European Union (EU) and sceptical US buyers -- it's no walk in the park being a pangasius supplier or producer today. But there is one exception, one country where the species flourishes like nowhere else: the Netherlands.
Typically a nation with a very low per capita fish consumption (3.54 kilograms on average per consumer, home-take consumption a year), the Dutch consumer's whole-hearted embrace of pangasius has been somewhat of a seafood miracle.
Leading supplier Queens, which recently celebrated 10 years of pangasius sales on the Dutch market, can look back at a remarkable success story, Harry Hoogendoorn, its managing director, told IntraFish.
"Holland seems to be the exception in the European trend," he said. "When we started 10 years ago no one even knew the name pangasius."
No advertising or TV campaigns were used to promote the fish, he said. "It was just in the freezer of the supermarket. Attractive packaging and an attractive price was all we needed for people to try it out."
In 2011, 5,500 metric tons of frozen and chilled pangasius were sold in the Netherlands, out of which Queens supplied 3,000 metric tons, or 3 million 600-grams bags of pangasius fillets.
Consumer sales prices are between €2.99 ($3.90) and €3.49 ($4.50) per bag, depending on the retailer. In addition, all of Queens' pangasius now carry the ASC label for responsibly farmed fish.
The reason for the success, said Hoogendoorn, is pangasius has attracted consumers who have never eaten fish before or have only eaten very little fish (mainly fish fingers).
"It’s a new group of consumers," he told IntraFish. "With the pangasius they have found a fish with not a very strong fishy taste, it’s absolutely free of bones, it has a nice color, the fillets look nice, it’s easy to prepare, consumers can combine it in all kinds of different dishes -- and it is an attractive price."
To leverage the success, Queens introduced numerous value-added products over the past year or so, including nuggets, crispy pangasius fillets, ready-meals and its "Pangalicious" line, which are marinated and breaded pangasius fillets.
Hoogendorn said pangasius can help drive the Dutch seafood market even higher. "We want to increase the Dutch fish consumption further -- if you follow the official advice to eat fish twice a week we should be able to triple the consumption," Hoogendoorn said.
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First ASC-certified pangasius farm in Vietnam
The first pangasius to bear the ASC label comes from the Vinh Hoan fish farm in Vietnam. Vinh Hoan is one of the biggest pangasius producers in the Mekong Delta. The company was actively involved in the development of the standards for the responsible farming of pangasius. It managed to implement the necessary adjustments in time to be the first to be awarded the ASC certification. Vinh Hoan focuses on the entire breeding process: from fertilisation to final product. As a result, quality and traceability are guaranteed. (www.asc-aqua.org)
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