Thai Ocean Venture To Promote Tuna Sashimi Consumption In Thailand ff

Thai Ocean Venture Co, a leading seafood processor and exporter in Phuket, plans to promote consumption of raw fish among Thais to help enlarge its tuna sashimi market. “Thailand is the world’s largest exporter of canned tuna and loins, but not many Thais have tasted tuna sashimi,” said Sathaporn Bhuyarthorn, general manager of the company.

Locally, snapper (pla kapong) and salmon are primarily used to prepare the tasty Japanese dish - thin slices of a variety of fresh fish. Canned tuna, on the other hand, is more popular in the Thai market, he said.

The company started supplying sashimi made from tuna and cobia and a variety of other raw fish dishes to local Japanese-food restaurant chains, Fuji, Bar BQ Plaza, and hotels a few years ago and received a good response.

This year, it expects a host of new clients - MK Restaurant, CP Fresh Mart, McDonald’s, and 7-Eleven - which mainly order raw fish for cooked meals.

According to the company’s research, local consumers have a good feeling about tuna thanks to its fresh and rich nutrients and their tendency to embrace menus including fish.

Participation in the Thaifex-World of Food Asia fair in May also helped Thai Ocean widen its domestic market, where sales revenue increased to 15% of the total 700-800 million baht estimated this year.

”Having more retail chains and strong export growth have encouraged us to expand investment by building a second production plant in Amata City in Rayong,” he said. The new plant, which is under construction at a cost of 350 million baht, would allow Thai Ocean to manage its logistics cost more effectively thanks to its proximity to the Laem Chabang port.

Production from the new plant is earmarked for food and retail chains in the capital and exports.

The expansion would double the sales revenue of the company next year to over 1.5 billion baht, of which 85% is expected to come from exports.

Thai Ocean imports about 6,500 tons of tuna, mainly albacore and bigeye species, and 700 to 1,000 tons of other fish including red snapper, to be processed for the domestic and export markets. The United States accounts for about 65% of its total sales.

Mr. Sathaporn said the prices of raw fish remained high, especially bigeye and yellowfin, which are sold at US$3.80 per kilogram.

Like many processors, Thai Ocean does not have a fishing operation but purchases the raw materials from tuna fishing boats.

”We used to own six fishing boats but sold them off four years ago due to unstable raw materials and rising fuel costs,” he said.

Now the company buys its raw materials from 600 contracted trawlers.

Last year, Thailand imported about 730,000 tons of tuna to be processed and canned into nearly 500,000 tons for export.