EU surimi market facing another difficult summer

About 129,000 metric tons of surimi are sold in western Europe, according to a recent presentation by Jean-Luc Beliveau, who heads research and development at French producer Alliance Ocean, at the Surimi Forum in Astoria, Oregon.

France is the biggest market in all of western Europe with a 47 percent share or 61,000 metric tons sold in 2012, followed by Spain with 40,000 metric tons.

While consumption in Spain increased 10 percent between last year and 2011, France saw stagnant sales, dropping from 63,000 metric tons in 2011, driven by unfavorable temperatures.

This year, the situation will not improve in the "mature" French market, Pascal Guenneugues, founder and president of FutureSeafood, told IntraFish.

Through the first five months of 2013, surimi salesin France were down 13 percent year on-year, he said, also due to the bad weather during the first half of the year.

"It is already late to catch up even if the weatherimproves now but a warm sunny summer would definitely help to counter-balance these bad statistics," he said.

Beliveau concurred with Guenneugues, saying sales at Alliance Ocean are down 5 percent so far this year. "It seems like an economic market bubble for surimi," he told IntraFish.

Also Spain could see a drop in consumption this year due to the continued economical crisis, he said.

Looking for new sales tactics

In addition to the bad weather -- and the flop of the Dukan diet-- surimi producers are also losing out on opportunities to promote their products at drive-through stations of French retailers, he said.

First introduced by Auchan, Leclerc, Casino and Carrefour in 2007, they have become a common method offood shopping, especially for young consumers, Beliveau said.

The concept is simple: Shoppers order online and get it delivered to their cars at hypermarkets.

"We know we could sell more volumes if we advertised online," Beliveau told IntraFish. "We believe it's one of the new potential markets for surimi."

Eric Coly, head of financial reporting at French deli group Fleury Michon, said also his company is struggling with the downward trend.

"The whole market has declined this year -- at Fleury Michon we see the same trend," he said

The company is now banking on "natural products" and premium surimi, Coly told IntraFish, with shoppers trending toward more expensive, branded products.

"Consumers no longer purchase discount labels -- they don't want to buy surimi with additives, preservatives, and so on," he said. "I'm sure we are on a good way with premium surimi."

Nevertheless, passing on high prices is difficult, he said, and much of the product goes over the counter due to promotional activities and price reductions.

When asked about the company sales targets for the year, Coly declined to comment but said "the whole market will decrease 10 percent in 2013" compared to last year.