Faroe Business Report — The International Review of Faroe Islands Industry and Trade - Faroe Business Report — The International Review of Faroe Islands Industry and Trade
Fisheries, Seafood Industry
The abundance of mackerel in Faroese waters raises questions as well as opening new business opportunities — while demands for a new legislative reform are making fishing people nervous.
The arrival of massive amounts of mackerel in Faroese waters is one of a few factors that has triggered shock waves through the Faroese seafood industry. Alongside growing internal unease over rights issues while also heralding a new version of the Faroese relations with neighboring countries, the abundant mackerel is opening up a world of new business opportunities in the Faroe Islands.
Helping to make Faroese fisheries management stand out in inter-Nordic and international cooperation efforts: unrivaled levels of technical control coupled with unmatched availability of catch statistics and marine ecosystem data.
As a tiny country with a strong fishing tradition, the Faroe Islands is often quick to adopt new technologies and policies in key areas relevant to fisheries management. Clearly, this is a context in which size does matter with smallness offering great advantages, as the impact of anything implemented throughout the North Atlantic island nation tends to become known early.
The Faroese are looking to suggest radical reform of the distribution keys used in Coastal States management of migratory fish stocks — by grouping herring, mackerel, and blue whiting together into a single complex to defuse disputes.
It had nothing to do, at least in theory, with the ‘Pelagic Complex’ event, held in the Faroe Islands on 7th to 9th September last year. Nonetheless, the dispute over the northeast Atlantic mackerel fishery made itself present at the international conference not just through the absence of some of the invited representatives from the EU but also as an ongoing controversy frequently referenced in the news at that time.
An integrated traceability and quality system that links fishing and processing data with logistics and sales, together with an unmatched design for full utilization of catch, may help explain Norðborg’s compelling success story.
Since her arrival in late 2009, the Norðborg has continued to impress every observer of Klaksvík’s queen-of-the-seas trawler. The advantage of the ship, the world’s most highly developed pelagic processing vessel, lies in a series of features that include a meticulously thought-out design along with some less visible elements. With a gross 237 million dkk (32m eur) worth of sales made in 2010, Norðborg is expected to deliver a similar level of performance this year.
Joint venture Faroe Origin puts former Faroe Seafood facilities in Runavík and Toftir at the center of processing activities, adding fresh products to the mix while keeping trawlers focused on saithe.
The largest pelagic fishing enterprise in the Faroe Islands, Varðin has joined forces with Framherji and Iceland’s Samherji to take over a sizable section of Faroe Seafood’s assets following the bankruptcy of the former giant in the groundfish business.
Framherji’s fishing vessels Fagraberg and Vesturvón continue to perform well amid changes in the pelagic fishing industry and concerns over Faroe-Norwegian trade relations.
Toftir-based Framherji may have an unassuming presence in its modest offices overlooking the quayside. But this is a significant player in the Faroese fishing industry and one of the vessel owners that has seen the most dramatic expansion over the last decade.
Founded in 1994 to secure local jobs in the face of crisis, Leirvík’s Tavan has developed to become the world’s leading manufacturer of minced silver smelt, shipping 10,000 tonnes per year to Scandinavian supermarkets.
There was good reason behind the awarding of the House of Industry’s 2010 Company of the Year prize to seafood manufacturer Tavan. Located in the fishing village of Leirvík, Tavan has experienced stable growth from its humble beginnings to now rank as the world’s top producer of minced silver smelt, generating a turnover of 100 million dkk (13.4m eur) last year, at a profit of 10 percent.
Landshandilin has long worked with vessel owners and seafood processors in the Faroe Islands and now the UK as well, to send tonnes of fresh produce to international clients — every week in the last 25 years.
When it comes to fresh seafood sourced from the northeast Atlantic, specialist trader Landshandilin has long delivered thousands of tonnes per year to markets around the world. Sourcing its produce from the Faroe Islands, and lately also from the United Kingdom, Landshandilin has been sending whole Atlantic salmon, fillets of saithe, redfish, and monkfish tails to overseas clients every week for 25 years.
Welcome to the 2011 Edition of the Faroe Business Report
I’m proud to present the 6th edition of the Faroe Business Report. It’s a pleasure again this year to bring you this information package about the Faroese business scene in cooperation with leading businesses and government departments and agencies. I encourage you to take a read to check the state of affairs in the Faroese business environment and see what some of the main events are compared to last year or a few years back. I guarantee that there’s quite a few things that happen in the course of a single year — major change can occur very quickly in the Faroe Islands.
Búi Tyril
Publisher and Editor in Chief
Reach International Businesspeople with an Eye on the Faroe Islands
Sponsoring an article or placing an ad in the Faroe Business Report is a great way of accessing important market segments or conveying your values to key constituencies. For those keen to share with an international audience what their position in the Faroe Islands may mean, this yearly publication is recognized as the information medium of choice — an undisputed leader in its field.
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Sannførandi søgur byggja álit millum viðskiftarar og veitarar
Fyri bæði fyritøkur og stovnar er umráðandi at samskifta væl við umheimin, soleiðis at góð og hóskandi kunning altíð er tøk í rættari tíð. Hesin samskiftis tørvur ger seg altíð galdandi, eisini tá vit ikki beinleiðis síggja hann.
Hetta kemst millum annað av at broytingar við meir ella minni avgerandi ávirkan á virksemið hjá fyritøkuni ella stovninum kunnu henda óvæntað skjótt.