Norwegian seafood competence programme visiting Madrid and Lisbon
Leaders of various Norwegian seafood companies visited Madrid and Lisbon on the 14-19th of march as a part of the Norwegian seafood competence programme.
The Marine Value-Creation Programme has established a competence programme as a collaboration between Innovation Norway and the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH). Leaders of all kinds of Norwegian seafood companies may attend the programme to learn more about market orientation - i.e. Strategy, International Marketing, Trademark Management and Market Communication. At the end of 2010 more than 100 leaders have attended the programme.
The programme consists of 6 gatherings, 5 in Norway and one trip abroad. This year the trip went to Madrid and Lisbon with the aim to explore the Spanish and Portuguese seafood market. The main goal of the study trip was to gain insight on the whole value chain including; importers, producers, whole sellers, retail, HoReCa and consumer trends. The 30 participants got an overview on the Spanish and Portuguese seafood markets, we looked into how the markets are organized, the latest trends and we visited various companies representing different parts of the value chain.
The more than two days long programme in Madrid, begun with a visit to the traditional San Miguel market for tapas Sunday evening, which gave a glimpse of the Spanish food tradition in charming surroundings.
Monday morning started off with Norwegian Seafood Export Council and Kantar World Panel presenting Spanish consumer trends and expected future development in the Spanish seafood market. Invited companies from the sector also presented their points of view on future trends, and showed immediate interest for the Norwegian companies and products. The presentations led to intense discussions which continued through-out the programme. A very dedicated and active group of participants contributed to a maximum benefit of the planned programme, being curios and interested.
To offer a complete picture of the Spanish sector we got to know different parts of the value chain visiting among others Mercamadrid (World’s second biggest whole sale market), the Spanish King’s supplier of seafood and an importer and smoker of Norwegian salmon. Finally we had a colloquy with the big retailer Carrefour. We also got to enjoy one of Spain’s great passions; food when visiting some of Madrid’s finest and most purist seafood restaurants.
As a part of the program the Norwegian Ambassador opened the doors for a great reception presenting the important role of Norwegian seafood in Spain.
The programme in Lisbon began with an overview of the market and the consumer trends, presented by the Portuguese office of Kantar World Panel. This was followed by a presentation from R2, NSEC’s communication and marketing agency, which was not only very interesting, but also extremely important to show how deep bacalhau is inserted in the Portuguese traditions and roots. Not many countries in the world eat more fish per capita as Portugal and bacalhau accounts for a very big part of these figures.
In order to show how the market is organized and how the retail is structured we visited several of the most important players in the sector – Recheio and Makro, the largest retailers targeting HoReCa and the professional sector; Continente, a hypermarket belonging to the largest chain: Minipreço, a low-cost supermarket belonging to the DIA group. Aiming to cover as much of the value chain as possible we visited a codfish processor, Riberalves, north of Lisbon.
Food in general, and fish in particular, is an important part of the Portuguese culture. The programme included a dinner in a traditional restaurant in the centre of Lisbon, a lunch in a shopping centre’s food court – an increasing habit – and a fantastic experience with a Portuguese chef – a Live Cooking session. Henrique Sá Pessoa is one of the most famous, modern and innovative chefs of his generation. The group had the chance to take part of a live cooking session with him, watching carefully and tasting how he prepared Norwegian seafood products.
For further information, please contact Lieneke Fjørtoft.
