The Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) is a public company owned by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries. NSC works together with the Norwegian fisheries and aquaculture industry to develop markets for Norwegian seafood, representing the country’s seafood exporters and the seafood industry. “Seafood from Norway” is a symbol of origin for Norwegian seafood caught or raised in the cold and clear waters of Norway.
Dr. Asbjørn Warvik Rørtveit, Southeast Asia Regional Director, Norwegian Seafood Council, provides some fascinating insights into the work of NSC in Thailand.
Market Awareness and Value Creation:
What factors make Thailand a special target for NSC, especially since Thailand has a rich diversity of domestically available seafood?
Thai people love food culture and care about seafood, and food services – all those different kinds of restaurants – and is therefore a massively important sector in Thailand, plus people more and more are enjoying cooking at home, too. As a result, Thailand is a really attractive ‘main’ market for us, especially in HORECA, and when you consider the amount of salmon and Saba consumed within the Kingdom, all served from thousands of seafood restaurants in the capital alone.
With many celebrities and social media influencers routinely advertising or reviewing seafood restaurants, the sector has never been more popular or more in demand. Food retail is important, but the restaurant sector is still key, as there are more than 3000 Japanese-style restaurants in Bangkok alone. Norwegian Saba is an important product with strong demand.
Now, we are getting more into promoting Norwegian Seafood for use in Thai cuisine, and we recently did a campaign with super-celeb Yaya Urassaya Sperbund to build a bridge between Norwegian and Thai markets for Norwegian Seafood. It is a product well-suited for any dish.
Consumer Engagement:
In promoting Norwegian seafood in Thailand, how does NSC engage with consumers?
The purpose overall is to create value throughout the supply chain. As more and more people are conscientious of where their food comes from, and several consumer demographics are happy to pay more for sustainably sourced and responsibly sourced seafood, there are opportunities for producers and people involved throughout the supply chain, even through to local packers and warehouse operatives, shippers and retail workers, etc., to make a living and for the whole value chain to benefit. People are also concerned about food safety, and so demand in general, and specifically quality-oriented supply, are consumer-driven.
In Thailand, there is a higher level of tax levied (5% currently) on prepared foods (which includes fish that has been smoked and filleted overseas then imported). But there is a huge advantage to retail buyers to take prepared fish, not least because it immediately removes the challenge of dealing with waste; this is particularly important in terms of retailers meeting obligations for waste disposal requirements not to mention cost and waste logistics.
That’s why it has for a long time now been optimal for retailers to import prepared fish from an exceptional source such as Norway. It’s not by coincidence that people know salmon as being “from Norway”, where in the past Thai consumers assumed it was all Japanese. Retailers used to use “sustainable sourced products” as a sales push, but now its consumer demand-led.
Global Impact:
In terms of leveraging sea-derived protein for sustainability, how can Norwegian seafood as a protein from the sea best be utilised to ensure both environmental health and long-term availability?
When considering the global impact of the fishing industry, we need to consider fish stocks and stock management across both aquaculture and wild fish stocks. It is a regulated industry, that’s really important and taken as a given in Norway for decades; and so therefore for Norway, it is an old, well-established and highly functional system which regulates fish stocks.
Quotas of fish in Norway are based on science, and therefore hard numbers drive careful cultivation or catch volumes in specific locations. Norway is highly regarded for its able and careful management of its fish stocks which ensure that fish are not “overfished”, strict rules are in place to regulate fishing gear, bycatch volume, and efficiency, and operators are rigorously inspected and must be certified. The quotas are also negotiated with neighbouring countries, so the approach is holistic across Scandinavian countries and others.
Norway actually is called upon to teach the fishing industry legislators, managers and operators of other countries on how to implement best practices which result in sustainably optimal industry outcomes, and which also preserve value across production chains. These optimisations result in efficiency, quality and a reliable source of sustainably produced fish with consistent and appropriate production volumes. By-catch is included as part of a quota, and penalties are enforced.
Impact on Fisherman Livelihoods:
How does NSC collaborate with the seafood industry to increase the value of Norwegian seafood while ensuring sustainable practices are prioritised and maintained?
Most of the products that we are promoting, like salmon and mackerel (Saba), are not competing with local species. If you look at the price range for salmon you are not competing with a local fish, but you are competing with a steak from Australia, for example, as that will be a similar price for a ribeye, etc.
By importing Norwegian seafood into the Thai market, we are generating mutual benefit within the value chain. For example, creating lots of jobs locally, so when we do a campaign, we aim to help that local value chain. And so, we are helping the locals bring more value into it. Now, we are working with all of the retailers, and this is often the result of them saying to us that they have seen a recent campaign by NSC, so that has been a nice experience.
