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Fofish: Bringing forth the seafood |
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Archives -
2006 Archive
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Written by B. Tyril
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Monday, 08 May 2006 |
A ‘direct link to fishermen’ for seafood purchasers, FoFish welcome more fishing vessels to their list of contracted sourcing partners while hooking up with foreign business partners to secure quality supplies from the Faroes.
There is obviously some truth to the tag, ‘your direct link to fishermen’ as used by FoFish, one of the largest seafood exporters in the Faroe Islands. With a growing network of sourcing partners, FoFish is moving to set up new partnerships in Europe to complement existing ones, addressing their clients’ need—and highlighting its own ability—to secure quality supplies of anything from a wide variety of fresh whole fish to a range of fresh or frozen, value added seafood products from the Faroes and elsewhere in the high North.
“We’re proud to finally have a solid infrastructure in place that enables a reliable supply line of seafood for our export clients,” said FoFish managing partner Abraham Lökin.
Faced with the reality that sometimes supplies can be scarcely available in the Faroes due to competition for raw material, what can you do then to satisfy your client, one might ask.
Said Mr Lökin: “What we’ve done to meet this challenge is basically two things: one, expand the scope of contracted sourcing partners, and two, build partnerships in the closer vicinity of our clients.”
To ensure that the company’s growing number of seafood clients get what they need in terms of both quality and quantity, on time and at competitive price, FoFish is working continuously to find new ways of developing and consolidating the supply chain.
“In a way, we provide seafood purchasers with direct access to fishing vessels,” Mr Lökin added. “This means we connect the harvesting sector through the importer and the retailer to the end consumer. Bearing geographical realities in mind, however, doing this successfully requires a highly organized system of sourcing, logistics and customer service—which is exactly what we’ve worked very hard to establish. Because of our success in doing this, I believe we’re going to see a whole new level of trading in the future; this is a win-win situation that benefits our clients, our sourcing partners and ultimately ourselves, too.”
‘A new infrastructure’: Founded in 2002, FoFish is widely recognized as a leading Faroe supplier of seafood. Owned and managed by Mr Lökin together with Leif Höj, the company has its main offices in Runavík on the island of Eysturoy. Emphasizing the ability to capitalize on its cultural and commercial integration with a unique fisheries community, FoFish is contracted by a number of fishing vessels, both trawlers, gillnetters and longliners, as their trading partner.
“We are surrounded by some of the richest fishing grounds in the world,” Mr Lökin noted. He added that the FoFish business model is based on professional training of management and members of staff, and many years of experience in the seafood trade.
“We are firmly rooted in an environment characterized by the presence of highly skilled and experienced fishermen and seafood processors. Together with our customers and business partners, we are able to develop concepts and strategies to effectively meet changing consumer needs and demands.”
Listed as FoFish sourcing partners in the Faroes are a number of leading and well established harvesting companies, with combined annual landings of more than 30,000 tons of cod, haddock, saithe (pollock/coley), redfish (ocean perch), monkfish and other species.
In cooperation with Faroese and foreign fish producers and seafood processors, FoFish also offers fillets and portions of most species caught in the North Atlantic including farmed salmon and trout.
Mr Lökin explained that Fofish was founded with the explicit purpose of creating a platform through which to link Faroese fishing vessels to domestic as well as foreign fish processors and other seafood purchasers. In response to structural changes in the industry a few years ago, the formation of FoFish, he said, “has essentially provided Faroese fishermen with a new infrastructure that brings their product to market…”
Full traceability is offered as a matter of course, according to Mr Lökin. “All our products, whether fresh whole, frozen fillets or portions, can be traced to where, when and by which method harvesting took place—our products are all fully traceable.”
Link to pdf presentation...
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