Crab sticks made with surimi. (Photo Credit: Natto/CC BY-SA 3.0)
SENEGAL
Thursday, August 07, 2014, 02:20 (GMT + 9)
A fish factory backed by the investment fund Hermes-Sojitz, which is to be opened later this year in Senegal, is set to become the first high-tech factory producing surimi in Africa.
According to the fund, the African continent has a great potential in this area and expert analysis of the surimi market has revealed a supply deficiency of up to 15 per cent.
Hermes-Sojitz says few manufacturers dare deal with surimi as the production technology is difficult and demanding. And although there are several factories in the world which have made it to producing surimi from frozen fish, it highlights high-quality surimi is made from fresh fish only.
The company's specialists are going to employ "unrivalled" technology at the Senagalese factory, which is supposed to significantly increase profitability of the manufacture.
Representatives of the fund comment that, together with their partners, they have invented a method of making surimi from cheaper, although nonetheless nutritious, ‘grey’ variety of fish. The technology has been successfully implemented by Karelian Industrial Complex.
It should be noted that the ‘traditional’ method of manufacture uses only ‘white’ varieties of fish. However, tightening of fishing quotas and migration of fish to hard-to-reach areas affect the price of the final product.
Since surimi is actually the raw stuff for other products, such as imitation crab sticks and a number of national dishes in Asia, the price issue has a direct impact upon profitability of the entire business. This makes the suggested technology a very useful and up-to-date know-how if not a breakthrough.
The global surimi consumption is 1.5 million tonnes per year and experts claim lack of manufacturers, new players are sure to come to the market soon. The interest in this sphere increases as the demand grows, spurred by the growth of population in Asia, the major consumer of this product.
However, reducing global fish resources prevent the industry from rapid development. For instance, poor catch urged a number of manufacturers in Chile to repurpose their businesses. Under such circumstances, the only thing manufacturers can do to cut costs is relocate their factories closer to steadily yielding fish resources and introduce novelty technologies to optimize the manufacture process.