SUPA Report – Chapter VI: Market analysis of trends and key stakeholder sourcing policies in the Netherlands

Dutch Seafood Market Analysis

FAO statistics from 2010 place consumption of fish and seafood products in the Netherlands at 15 kg per captia. The same FAO report forecasts fish and seafood consumption in the Netherlands to only increase 1 kilo by 2030. The population in the Netherlands today is estimated at 16.8 million and by 2030 the population is only expected to increase to by 670,000 inhabitants to 17.47 million.

Figures from the Dutch Fish Bureau rank “fish sticks/fingers” as the #1 consumed product (by volume) in the Netherlands followed by canned tuna, Pangasius and salmon in 2012.

Top 10 fish and seafood products by volume in the Netherlands in 2012

In 2011, the Dutch Fish Bureau launched the “De mannen van de zee” or “Men of the Sea” campaign which promotes a fish of the month. Pangasius was the fish of the month in April 2013. Pangasius was described as follows, “The fish is popular because of its neutral flavor, low price and ease of preparation and is mainly sold frozen (google translator)”. The campaign included recipes, a video entitled “The Pangasius story”, promotion via social media such as twitter, facebook and youtube as well as a press release.

In 2012, the majority of fish and seafood consumed in the Netherlands was chilled (45.3%) followed by frozen (37.7%) and canned (16.9%).

Sustainability trends

The following excerpt is from a United States Department of Agriculture report on trends in the Dutch retail food market place (highlights added).

More Sustainable Food Products in the Netherlands

During the last decade, especially Dutch retailers have increasingly sourced food products which are either produced sustainably or obtained in a sustainable manner. The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation recently published a report, Monitor Duurzaam Voedsel 2011, which gives an overview of consumer spending on sustainable food in the Netherlands. Sustainable food is one of the most important growth markets in food retail and foodservice markets. The turnover of sustainable food rose in 2011 by 30.5 percent while total spending on food in the same year only grew by 3.1 percent. As a result, the market share of sustainable food increased from 3.5 percent in 2010 to 4.5 percent last year. But how is sustainable food being defined and measured? The MinAg defines as food whereby during production and processing, more than what is legally required, environmental, animal welfare and social aspects or criteria have been taking into account. In the report, two criteria have been used to measure the sustainability claim: 1) at consumer level the sustainability efforts are visible by a label or mark and 2) the control of this mark must be independent. In addition, it is more correct to actually speak of more sustainable food rather than sustainable food in order to indicate that it is a proportionally sustainable product. The emphasis is on the process towards sustainable.

In the Netherlands, spending on sustainable food in 2011 totaled 1.75 billion Euros, up by 410 million Euros compared to 2010. Total spending on food, including sustainable food, amounted 38.9 billion Euros in 2011.

To help consumers make responsible fish and seafood purchasing decisions the North Sea Foundation along with WWF have created a stop light card called the “VIS wijzer” or “fish guide”.

In the aquaculture sector, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council received the Dutch Retail Association’s (CBL) endorsement in December of 2011 with the following announcement.

“On 15^th December the Dutch Retail Association (CBL) announced that supermarkets in the Netherlands will strive to only sell farmed seafood that meet the ASC standards for responsible aquaculture (or equivalent) by 2016.”

Key retail players in the Netherlands

In 2012, the Dutch Fish Bureau estimated 84.9% of all fish was purchased in the “supermarket”. The Dutch retail marketplace is highly consolidated. The Dutch retail market is predominantly controlled by Alber Heijn (33.6%) and Jumbo (22.5%).

Albert Heijn (AH): “We have recognized that we can have a greater impact if we focus on the so-called “hotspots” linked not only to environmental but also to social and animal welfare issues in our own-brand product supply chain. We have therefore developed a global risk analysis to identify the most significant impacts of our own-brand products on social-, environmental- and animal welfare related issues throughout their supply chains in order to source them more responsibly.”

Albert Heijn is owned by Ahold of the Netherlands which has interests in operations in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden and the USA. Group total sales were up in 8.5% in 2012 over 2011 with net sales of € 32,841 million versus € 30,271 respectively, however net income was down 18.7%. Albert Heijn posted a sales increase of 5.2% in 2012 over year prior.

Albert Heijn is commited to sourcing all own-brand seafood products from certified sources by 2015 (see Figure 4). As of the 2012 sustainability report 18% of total seafood sales at AH was from certified products versus 14% for the AH brand.

Albert Heijn classifies fish and seafood products into 5 categories: best choice; fine choice; second choice; prefer not to and in review. Pangasius is green. AH cites the ASC, GlobalG.A.P. and the GAA’s BAP certifications schemes on its website.

C1000: On February 22, of 2012 Jumbo officially concluded the acquisition of the C 1000 retail chain. Today, C1000 has over 300 stores. “Sustainable fish” is messaged via the MSC and described as “delicious and healthy”.

Aldi: Aldi in the Netherlands is a division of Aldi Markt in Germany. The approach to “sustainable aquaculture is based upon high standards for food safety, environmental, social standards and animal welfare which include the following aspects:

-       siting, taking into account the surrounding ecosystems;

-       animal health and welfare;

-       no IUU marine ingredients in feed;

-       sourcing aquaculture products from certified producers (GlobalG.A.P., Aquaculture Stewardship Council, bio);

-       sewage, waste and water management plan;

-      no prophylactic use of chemicals or preventive antibiotics only authorized medicines and chemicals to be used in the manner prescribed;

-       maintainance of social standards throughout the production chain using our suppliers, ie from farm to the

-       fish processing plant to the sale (International Labour Organisation ILO / BSCI codex);

-       strict ecological guidelines for further processing and traceability throughout the supply chain.

Plus: In its 2012 sustainability report, Plus attributed 45% of all fish and seafood sales to certified products. In addition to referencing the MSC and the North See Foundation stoplight card, Plus has developed a stoplight system of its own with green equaling a fine choice, orange means minor problems are associated with the fish and red means there are major problems.

The fish sustainability webpages states “And this fish is 100% responsible”. An example if a Plus catch-weight chilled product label reads; “Plus is committed to sustainable seafood policies. See www.plus.nl.”

Lidl: Lidl in the Netherlands publically endorses the ASC. Lidl in the Netherlands includes Pangasius in its fish lexicon. Lidl Netherlands Fish sustainability webpage supporting ASC

Jumbo: On the 11th of July 2012 the last Super de Boer supermarket was converted to a Jumbo store after the 2009 acquisition. Sales in 2012 of € 3.228 billion were generated from approximately 351 stores, which, when combined with C1000 turnover make Jumbo group the second largest retail group in the Netherlands.

On the Jumbo website sustainable fish and seafood is included under the animal kindness (welfare) webpage and the Jumbo approach is explained next to the MSC logo. In 2012, Jumbo revised its seafood sourcing policy with the help of its suppliers, Greenpeace, the North Sea foundation and WWF and established GlobalG.A.P. as a minimum and ASC as the objective (were available) for farmed fish and seafood. Furthermore, Jumbo was the first supermarket to carry ASC products in the Netherlands. In 2012 Jumbo increased turnover of sustainable chilled fish from 26% in 2011 to 37% in 2012. Jumbo progress in turnover of chilled MSC/ASC fish 2012.

Other Pangasius supply chain participants in the Netherlands:

Queens: Queens was a partner in the IDH led ASC Accelerator project and the first to offer ASC certified Pangasius in the Netherlands. Queens Products’ commitment includes only offering ASC certified Pangasius products. Queens and Vinh Hoan celebrate the 1st ASC certified Pangasius products

In the food safety arena Queens Products support GFSI and states:

“GFSI has, among others, approved the following standards: BRC, IFS, Dutch HACCP, FSSC 22000 and Global GAP. The quality standards BRC, IFS, HACCP, FSSC 22000 are oriented towards the production and trading of food products. The aim of certified standards is food safety. The standards must guarantee that products are made without any danger for public health and that they comply with all requirements for food safety and quality, and to all statutory regulations… Global GAP makes high demands on food producers, such as farmers, market gardeners and fishermen, in the field of food safety, sustainability and quality. Global GAP wants to promote food safety and meet other consumer requirements, such as sustainable agriculture and fishery… Queens Products attach great value to food safety and realizes the overall importance of these quality systems. Queens Products expects in any case a certified BRC- or IFS-system from its partner-suppliers.”

Anova: Definition of sustainable fish: For Anova, a fish product is sustainable if the fish in question is farmed, caught and processed according to internationally-accepted standards such as the FAO Code of Conduct for responsible fishery, MSC, GLOBALG.A.P., Naturland Wildfish and ASC. We also view our own initiatives, including Anova Trace, Claresse® and Fishing & Living™ as sustainable.

Anova’s sustainability initiatives with Pangasius began with the Anova Trace Panga Program in Vietnam in 2005. Under the guiding principles of transparency, traceability and selection of inputs a set of internal standards were developed to ensure good practices at the farm level which included animal welfare and environmental, food safety and  feed considerations. Additionally, processing plants were required to be certified to a GFSI benchmarked food safety scheme. Anova’s use of the Anova Trace Panga program and GlobalG.A.P. certification were beneficial in the achievement of ASC certification.

Seafood Connection: The Seafood Connection was also a founding member of the IDH sponsored ASC Accelerator program in Vietnam. In November 2012, Klaas-Jan Mazereeuw of the Seafood Connection spoke at an event celebrating the accomplishments of the ASC Accelerator program in Vietnam. He said:

 “The pangasius industry has been facing criticism since the fish was introduced in the EU 15 years ago. That hit the sector hard. When pangasius was red listed by WWF the turnover of some of our suppliers went down 40%. That was the wake up call for the Vietnamese government. The pangasius industry started with compliance to Global Gap and now there is the to ASC standards. For traders like us, ASC certification, which is more strict than Global Gap on social and environmental issues, is an element in making our sector future proof and it helps to create a positive image.” Seafood Connection sustainability webpage.

The Seafood Connection also has a corporate sustainability label “Blue Planet” which today signifies the following.

Conclusions

Sales growth in the Dutch market is hampered by a forecasted low growth in overall population by 2030 as well as per capita consumption of fish and seafood. The mild flavor and ease of preparation make skinless boneless Pangasius fillets an attractive option among Dutch consumers.

The largest growth category of certified food in the Netherlands in 2011 were animal health and welfare labels. Sales growth (2011 versus 2010) of popular certification schemes in the Netherlands

Uptake of ASC certified Pangasius in the Netherlands has benefited from the work of the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) and WWF Netherlands as well as the Dutch retail association (CBL).

Retailers such as Albet Heijn and Plus are capitalizing on internal stoplight systems. Retailer brands such as the AH “Pure and Honest” and supplier programs such as “Anova Trace” and “Blue Planet” build brand awareness and customer loyalty based on a host of sustainability and other CSR issues.

Study on market potential of sustainably produced Pangasius in Europe

Project: Establishing a Sustainable Pangasius Supply Chain in Vietnam

Author: Carson Roper, Independent Consultant

Contracted by: WWF Austria

September 2013