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Maruha-Nichiro Announces New Autumn Products
July 15, 2008
Maruha-Nichiro Foods announced 37 new products and 31 renewed ones for autumn release on July 14, 2008. Sales targets for the new products are 6.3 billion yen, of which commercial normal temperature and chilled products comprise 2.304 billion yen; commercial cold food products are 3.35 billion yen; and lastly professional grade cold foods are 635 million yen.
Michiro Sakai, the President of Maruha-Nichiro Foods, indicated the future course of the company by saying, “it becomes a question as a food manufacturer how this company should be presented by utilizing our sourcing ability of marine and livestock materials. With 300 billion yen capacity by group segment, we are a major food manufacturer, however we are not the top company in this sector. With this in mind, we aim to become a high quality company. Other than the scale of the company, we pursue the world-class top quality.”
“As a company seeking to engender new value, the company will aim for 1) managing frozen food business as the backbone of the company; 2) securing overwhelming share of canned and processed food business by focusing on the strongest areas; 3) strengthening chilled and health food sectors; 4) expanding food products for home use; 5) strengthening overseas ventures; and 6) cultivating more sales channels. By putting efforts into them, we will endeavor most to streamline sales and production segments and reinforce quality assurance,” further said Sakai.
With a theme of “Tasty health,” the company has generated a line of 12 new commercial normal temperature and chilled products, such as “saury in spring water” using fish caught offshore in the Eastern Hokkaido.
Under the theme of “Utilization of procurement and property of materials,” for professional frozen food products, the company has generated a new product named “boneless sea bream filet washed with tea,”; a sign of the effect of the merger between Maruha and Nichiro has had on the ability to procure materials. Maruha-Nichiro accounts for 70 percent of sea bream imports from New Zealand.
Translated by Kiyo Hayasaka on July 22, 2008
Drastic Increase of Vietnamese Catfish Fishmeal Exports
July 15, 2008
According to a report by JETRO, fishmeal exports from Vietnam to Japan in 2007 amounted to 13,538 tons, a 38.7 percent increase from the previous year, most of which was catfish fishmeal.
The total amount of fishmeal exports from Vietnam to Japan in 2005 was 3,123 tons, which significantly rose to 13,538 tons by 2007. Japan imports the total of 340,000 tons of fishmeal each year, 44 percent, or 15,000 tons of which originates from Peru.
The growing fishmeal imports from Vietnam account only for four percent of the total fishmeal imports to Japan, placing Vietnam in the fourth place. Since 2006 Japan has been purchasing more Vietnamese catfish fishmeal. That Nam Corporation, a catfish processor located in Tinh An Giang Province, Mekong Delta, began to export production residue to Japan triggered this new trend.
Translated by Kiyo Haysaka on July 21, 2008
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