THE PRIMEFISH PROJECT - LINKING THE NEEDS OF THE PRODUCER, RETAILER AND CONSUMER

EU is a major market for fish, with a value of €54.7 billion and a volume of 13.8 million tons. Two thirds of EU seafood is imported, as catches within EU have been stable during the last few years and the growth in the aquaculture sector has stagnated. European seafood producers have been facing increased competition from overseas and some of their products are not price competitive. The EU capture fish industry has its main challenges related to the supply of fish, both because of overfished stocks and because of the seasonality of main species. The challenges facing EU aquaculture include limited availability of sites, complex administrative and legal procedures and lack of market differentiation in terms of quality and in adapting to evolving consumer preferences. These and other challenges affecting the economic sustainability of European seafood producers are addressed in PrimeFish, a four year Horizon 2020 funded research project with 14 participants from Europe and two outside Europe for comparative investigation.

The economic performance of selected primary seafood producers will be evaluated, the seafood supply chain characterised as well as the drivers of strategic decision making. In the project the impact of consumer behaviour, market trends, innovation and product development in the seafood market will be specifically analysed. To accomplish this, information will be gathered not only from publically available sources but also from individual production companies, industry organisation, marketing channels and from consumers.

The results will enable comparison of competitiveness and to estimate possible "boom and bust" price cycles. The results will be used for preparing models on strategic positioning within the value chain, on success analysis for new products and for innovation and price analysis for specific species. The key concept of the project is implementation of the models into a web-based market intelligence tool for seafood operators and public stakeholders. The toolbox will provide benchmarking of competitiveness between seafood companies (on a supply-chain level) and for public stakeholders on a country or species level. Further, the toolbox should support producers in product development and in spotting market needs. By improving strategic decision making for industry players and policymakers the long term economic sustainability of EU fisheries and aquaculture sectors will be enhanced.