Promotional activities on aquaculture products in France Marie Christine Monfort Ekaterina Tribilustova

1. Promotionalactivities on aquaculture products in France Marie Christine Monfort Ekaterina Tribilustova 6-7 June 2013 Zadar, Croatia

2. Structure of the presentation • French market at a glance • Consumer tendencies • Farmed fish on the French market • Promotion of farmed fish: the French Interprofessional Committee for Aquaculture Products

3. France Seafood Productionin tonnes (source Fishstat)

4. Highlights of the market • Large market (65 million inhabitants with 35 kg per capita consumption), • Small production of wild fish, • Limited domestic aquaculture, • Slow growth, • Large diversification in terms of sold species

5. Highlights of the market • Rather open to freshwater and farmed seafood, • More sophisticated, • More information,

6. Structure of the market Retail EUR 5 to 7 billion Imports EUR 3.9 billion Catering EUR 1.5 to 2.2 billion Seafood processing industry EUR 2.9 billion Domestic landings EUR 1.5 billion Exports EUR 1.3 billion Source: Monfort, M.C., 2011

7. France is an important market for farmed seafood Source Paquotte, P. unpublished estimates (2010)

8. The reality of farmed fish consumption • Main species: salmon, shrimps, mussels, oysters, scallops, pangasius, seabass, seabream

9. Consumer tendencies • Althoughconsumerssay to preferwildfish, in reality theybuywhat is available and considedas goodvaluefor money • Filletedpre-packed fish as being considered as convenient is an increasing choice of French consumers

10. Future segmentation of the French market for seafood City center fish mongers selling to high income clientele • Wild fish and high quality farmed seafood such as • “Label Rouge” labeled products • - Fresh seafood in very large proportion Supermarkets Volume/price oriented • - Farmed fresh fish, European origin, • - Defrosted products including fillets, non-EU origin, • Frozen finfish, either basic range as today, • or more sales of top quality frozen fish? Institutional and lower class restaurants/cafeteria Low priced frozen products Middle-upper class restaurants • Wild seafood dominantly but not exclusively • Fresh finfish, mainly from European origin Source: Egeness, F-A., Monfort, M.C., 2011

11. Product with potential on the French market Source: Monfort, M.C., 2011

12. Communication and promotion for both wild and farmed fish • National - NORGE (Norway) - Canada - Iceland - France (brad created in 2012) • Regional - Scotland - Alaska - Bretagne

13. Image of aquaculture seafood in France • The image of fish is positive, • When it comes to farmed fish, there is no consensus : Quality, some say better taste than wild; others not; Some say fresher than wild, other not, • Some still don’t know about the existence of farmed fish, • Little awareness of farmed fish production. Some compare with on-land production system (henns in battery cages), • The information conveyed to consumers is not comprehensive in terms of origin: legislation in incomplete (in restaurants no obligation to mention wild or farmed) and in retail shops it is not applied/ complied thoroughly (since 2002 it is mandatory for fishmongers to mention if fish is farmed or wild), • There is some confusion among French consumers about what fish is farmed or not.

14. Penetration rate and average annual intake by product in 2009 Source: Kantar for FranceAgriMer, 2010

15. Presentation of the French Interprofessional (Interbranch) Committee for Aquaculture Products (CIPA)

16. About CIPA The Fish Farmersproducing fresh water and marine fish represented by FFA French Federation of Aquaculture The Feed manufacturersrepresented by SPPA Syndicat Professionnel des Producteurs d’Aliments aquacoles The Trout Processors represented by ATT Association of trout processors (Association des Transformateurs de Truite) 420 companies More than 560 sites 60 trout processing units 3 companies • Created in 1997 • Is composed of threecolleges:

17. CIPA’s missions (1) • Coordination role : • Organizes the dialogue between the three ‘colleges’ • Provides reporting of the market and of the production variations (observatoireéconomique) • Provides marketing analysis tools to its members • Helps research program implementation • Communication role to answer the consumer’s demands • Develops product quality specifications • Informs the buyers and decision makers (distribution, food industry, wholesalers, …) • Ensures the products’ promotion to the consumers • Maintains pro-active relationships with journalists and other opinion leaders.

18. CIPA’s missions (2) • Acts as an interface between the profession and the legislators. • Seeks to ensure the profession’s continuing viability and its future development • Sustainable Aquaculture program (environment, feed,…) • Food security • Fish health and life cycle improvement • Represents the profession’s position vis a vis the relevant authorities : • National • European • International

19. Focus on CommunicationPromotion main line: Quality ! 19

20. 2012 / 2013 Actions • Communication on the start-up of common production standards for trout : • towards decision makers: distributors, wholesalers, fishmongers, chefs… • towards consumers • - towards journalists and opinion leaders

21. Tasting, comparison, dialogue… • Organization of fish-tasting lunches • Partnership with associations of Chefs - 6 meetings in 2012 - 200 participants (distributors, chefs, wholesalers, press…) - Blind tests during the lunch and presentations followed by a press release and a newsletter • Sponsorship of cookery competitions (Ex: Gargantua) • production site visits for chefs and culinary schools • platform for discussions during the associations’ • regional and general meetings 21

22. Tasting, comparison, dialogue … • Study on trout and Sea Bass by the Centre Culinaire Contemporain Aim : to recognize the qualities and culinary uses of farmed fish. To invite the Chefs to develop culinary tests and to develop a protocol on the strengths and culinary uses of farmed fish. Presentation of this study during the international food service trade show: SIRHA (Lyon – France – January 2013)

23. Communication to the consumer… • Partnership with supermarkets to promote our fish during 2 weeks in February 2013 • Creation of promotion tools : • Leaflets with recipes • web site dedicated to fish recipes • quiz • …

24. And to the journalists… - Monthly Press release - Permanent press watch, and risks and opportunities detection

25. Consumer Survey In 2013, CIPA asked M.C Monfort Consultant and Co-Spirit to lead a field survey on farmed fish and trout in France. From January to March 2013, a panel of 820 consumers was asked about their feeling on farmed fish, on trout , and on the quality standard «Charte Qualité – Aquaculture de Nos Régions ® ». Next step : presentation of the results to the distributors and opinion leaders in the « Newsmag » and definition of a new promotion campaign based on these results for 2013/2014.

26. Some conclusions of the consumers study • 87% eat fresh fish in France • Farmed fish is less attractive than wild fish. • Taste: 54% said that farmed fish is not as good as wild fish • Nutritional values: consumers believe that farmed fish is fatter than wild fish and has less nutritional values • This negative image comes from the perception that : • Feed for farmed fish is less healthy than what wild fish eats (56% respondants) • Farmed fish grow in an environment less « natural » compared to wild fish (45% respondants) • Despite these negative opinions, people do buy farmed fish because: • 55% says it is less expensive/ 60% mention the price for the number one advantage of farmed fish • 38% says to consume farmed fish it is available and easier to find • 21% says to buy farmed fish to preserve the marine environment (overfishing)

27. Reactions to the Farmed Fish Quality Charte • The association of fish farmers has taken the decision to launch a Quality Standard to be followed by fish farmers • This initiative was well perceived by the consumers • 90 % said this was re-assuring • This enthousiasm was even higher with older than 50 years old people • This Quality Standard offers several advantages said consumers: • It offers a garanty for the quality of the product • It offers and certify the garanty of the provenance / origin of the trout • Consumers said to be especially sensitive to the following messages: • Healthy feed for fish (important for 80% respondents) • High freshness (important for 69% respondents) • Solid traçability (important for 59% respondents)

28. Contactdetails Marketing Seafood Marie-Christine Monfort 19 rue Martel 75010 Paris Tel: +33 (0) 1 5603 5454 Email: contact@marketing-seafood.com CIPA 32 rue de Paradis – 75010 Paris Tél +33 140 586 800 Email : contact@cipaquaculture.asso.fr Web site : www.aquaculturedenosregions.fr Eurofish International Organisation H.C. Andersens Blvd, 44-46 1553 Copenhagen, Denmark Tel +45 333 777 55 Email : katia@eurofish.dk Web site : www.eurofish.dk, www.eurofishmagazine.com

29. Thank you for your attention!