To paraphrase an advert, sometimes together really is better. Last year saw four of the country’s most successful seafood companies, McBride Fishing, Carr Shellfish, Sofrimar and Shellfish de la Mer come together to set up Jade Ireland Seafood with a view to marketing their product in China.
The joint venture company, which was put together with help from Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), the state fish promotions agency, has opened an office in Shanghai to market a new brand, Ocean Jade. It was launched in November at the China Fisheries and Seafood Expo, Asia’s largest seafood tradeshow.
The companies involved in Jade Ireland Seafood Limited are located around the Irish coast in areas renowned for quality seafood including Donegal, Wexford and Cork.
Between them, the four companies have collective revenues of €45 million with established clients in France, UK, Spain, Italy and Korea. Through Jade Ireland Seafood, they can provide customers in China with a diverse range of live and value added seafood products.
Irish seafood has “an excellent reputation internationally”, according to Donal Buckley, BIM’s business development and innovation manager.
Exports to China last year were up in excess of 80 per cent on 2011. Building scale in the seafood sector is a priority for BIM to drive further sales in what is a “growing and profitable market”, he said.
Bord Bia actively promotes the principle of “co-opetition”, where companies work together to create synergies resulting in cost savings, improved returns and increased market distribution.
Jade Ireland owns a fleet of fishing vessels and four world class processing facilities.
“The Irish seafood sector is small in comparison to our competitors and we quickly realised that in order to compete effectively and to supply such a large and growing market in China, we would need to use our collective resources to do so,” said Hugh McBride of McBride Fishing and a director of Jade Ireland.