Paper presented by the Chairman, Mr. FERLIN, on behalf of the Italian Delegation
1. GENERAL BACKGROUND
By its high price-structure, variety and prospects, the Italian market for bass and sea-bream attracts great interest among MEDRAP members. These two species are traditionally caught throughout the Mediterranean in the open sea or in lagoons. There are also a number of intensive aquaculture projects for raising them, using new sophisticated technology. The latter has benefited from substantial investment which has yet to be amortized.
However, no proper study of the italian market for bass and sea-bream exists to date. The following information is available concerning these species :
- national production: a complete set of figures up to 1983 for monthly production from all sources (catches at sea, extensive and intensive aquaculture),
- foreign markets: customs statistics make no special mention of bass and sea-bream, so that quantities imported are included with other species, there being no other official or published information on the subject:
- domestic markets : main wholesale markets have records of quantities and maximum and minimum prices.
Despite the dearth of official information on the subject, Italy can be divided into ten major consumption areas identified by the principal cities in each one. From North to South, these areas are: TURIN, MILAN, VENICE, GENOA Tuscan coast (VIAREGGIO), ROME, Adriatic coast (RIMINI), NAPLES, BARI and the rest of the country.
The consumption areas are covered by wholesalers or by wholesale importers generally based in the above-mentioned cities. In descending order of importance, the wholesalers market their produce through the following outlets :
- Institutions (hotels, restaurants),
- Semi-wholesalers in provincial cities, and large Fishimongers,
- Official wholesale markets (run by municipalities) in which the remainder is sold (1).
2. PRICE FIXING
There is a free price-fixing system in Italy, which means that wholesalers and retailers can determine their own profit margins.
Despite the lack of data on the subject, it would appear that traders' margins follows price levels, which fluctuate enormously on the wholesale market. Despite the free price structure, retailers' margins seem relatively stable. Where high-value fish are concerned, profit margins are narrow compared to those for inexpensive species.
The overall trend for price of these products shows that increases are in line with inflation.
Best sales periods with corresponding prices (See also appendix)
Bass
- Highest prices in March, April, May, June, August, September and December,
- Average price for bass exported to Italy from all sources during these periods: 18,000 lire/kg (16–20,000 lire)
- Farm-produced bass: 2,000 lire/Kg mark-up (according to quality, freshness, calibration).
Sea-bream
- Fresh-fish,
- Freshness criteria: fish kept at 5 degrees centigrade must arrive on the market within 48 hours. Fish five to six days old loose fifty per cent of its value,
- Size criteria : ideal size is 350 or 500 grams
- Presentation: boxes of fifteen kilograms maximum. On the southern markets (NAPLES and BARI), fish must be folded in two (in the position known as “crocchiato”) and this can only be done at the place of capture.
3. OVERALL MARKET STRUCTURE
The Italian market for bass and sea-bream amounted to about 2,700 tonnes in 1983, of which 1,000 tonnes were imported, representing some 40 % of the market. Bass makes up the largest proportion of imported fish (over 50 % of the national consumption).
| National Production | Imports | Consumption | |
| Bass | 864 | 916 | 1,780 |
| Sea-Bream | 845 | 115 | 960 |
| Total | 1,709 | 1,030 | 2,740 |
4. ITALIAN PRODUCTION PATTERN
Catches at sea account for more than half of italian production, and extensive lagoon fisheries are also significant, amounting to 700–800 tonnes. Intensive aquaculture production remains therefore quite limited, amounting to less 10 % of total production.
5. SECTORAL STUDY BY PRINCIPAL ITALIAN MARKETS (See appendix)
As mentioned above, recent data is fragmented and refers only to organized markets. Due to import levels, the wholesale market is highly concentrated (44 wholesalers in ROME alone) and extremely dispersed in the retail trade (1,200 retailers in ROME), as throughout the Italian marketing system. But there is also an unofficial market in which transactions are clandestine and unquantifiable. The size of this market may sometimes be very large, supplying individuals, restaurants and retailers (as in NAPLES).
Analysis of wholesale market source reveals the existence of multiple trading partners: France, Spain, Portugal, for produce originating either from capture fisheries or aquaculture. In three cases out of five, these imports account for the majority of wholesale trade in both species.
6. DISCUSSION FOLLOWING THE ITALIAN PAPER
- Supermarket sales of marine produce (Question asked by the French delegate).
For the present, Italian consumption habits rule out fish sold in supermarkets: The Italian consumer is extremely demanding on quality, the promotion of fish is not yet a common practice, and supermarkets have difficulty in managing the fresh fish sector.
- Bass and sea-bream are not widely eaten (Question asked by the Algerian delegate)
Over the year as a whole, these products are restricted to high income consumers. On the other hand, during festive seasons, they are bought by a far broader spectrum of society.
- The special nature of the relationship retailers and consumers in Italy
Italians insists upon a high degree of freshness. Retailers in very specialized and fragmented market sectors operate according to an “atomized monopolistic” system: for a given species in a limited area, they establish relationships with the consumer based on trust and preferential treatment. Profit margins are known to fluctuate and are heavily conditioned by demand.
- The potential for the Italian market
The Italian market is far from being saturated but there is no evidence that is could absorb the whole of the production from capture fisheries and aquaculture in the Mediterranean. There is a very real danger of over-production, although we know absolutely nothing about the true potential and trends of the market.
- Flat-fish farming in the Mediterranean (sole and turbot)
Prospects are presently dampened by technical problems (fry production, and intensive growing-out) or economic ones (high production costs) and by the weakness of the potential market in the Mediterranean.
- International cooperation and market stability
Cooperation between Italy and Yugoslavia is envisaged for mussels, oysters and bass during the growing-out process.
On the other hand, the amortization of investment in aquaculture by Italy's partners is threatened by the very varied nature of her policies: mastering of technology (canning of mussels), fluctuation of exchange rates (in the case of Greek eels), change in the terms of cooperative agreements (between Yogoslavia and Spain where shellfish farming is concerned).
- The exemplary nature of fish market organization in Turkey (Statement by the Turkish delegate)
The marketing of fish in Turkey is entirely in private hands but seems highly controlled. It consists of a North-South flow of low value fish from the Black Sea (which has a good production level) towards the Mediterranean (which has a high consumption level). In the latter, production is low but of high-value.
The delegate voiced his concern less than Mediterranean fish trade should become entirely directed at a specifically tourist market.
APPENDIX 1
AVERAGE PRICES
Italian markets : Average prices of sea-bream found in municipal markets studies in 1983 (In thousands of Lira)
| VENICE | 16,8 |
| MILAN | 25,0 |
| ROME | 18,5 |
| NAPLES | 13,0 |
| GENOA |
Italian markets : Average bass prices found in municipal markets studies in 1983 (In thousands of Lira)
| VENICE | 16,7 |
| MILAN | 24,7 |
| ROME | 19,5 |
| NAPLES | 13,0 |
| GENOA |
APPENDIX II
ORIGINS OF DOMESTIC PRODUCTION
| Total caught at sea | 930 tonnes |
| Total caught in lagoons | 720 to 850 tonnes per year |
VENICE | 400 to 500 tonnes per year |
Sardinia | 100 to 150 tonnes per year |
Others (Tuscany, Lazio, Puglia) | 30 to 50 tonnes per year |
| Total domestic production | 200 to 250 tonnes per year |
VENICE | 100 to 150 tonnes per year |
Tuscany | 50 tonnes per year (3 concerns) |
Basilicata | 50 tonnes per year (1 concern) |
APPENDIX III
Analysis per sector
A. THE ROMAN AND LATIUM (LAZIO) REGION MARKETS
ROME is in the Latium region of Italy and, as the other regions, 70 % of its needs are supplied by wholesalers and wholesale importers and the remaining 30 % by the following three markets :
- The central market in ROME,
- The “de facto” markets of FIUMICINO and of ANZIO. The size of these markets is increasing.
Fish trading is controlled by 44 wholesalers/authorized agents and authorized agents on the central market in ROME. Here, about 1,200 retail dealers buy their stock.
Available information : until 1983 daily statements giving details such as quantities sold, total billed value and minimum and maximum prices.
B. THE MARKETS IN NAPLES AND IN THE SOUTH-WESTERN CONTINENTAL AREAS
The zone defined as the Campagna region and the North-West of Calabria, includes NAPLES, the Amalfi coast, Pozzuoli and the Islands of Capri, Ischia and Procida, Maratea. These are ail areas that enjoy a high level of tourism. This zone is supplied, in part, directly by wholesalers and also by the following five sales points :
- The central municipal market in NAPLES which supplies the city Centre.
- The tolerated market of Pozzuoli supplies its own restaurants as well the touristic Islands of Procida, Ischia and Capri. The Pozzuoli market, as a sales point, has shrunk in size ever since the city has been affected by sysmic phenomena.
- The only official information available concerns the NAPLES market, the only one officially recognized and which has sanitary inspections and statistical verifications. The data which the mission was able to get hold of is thus as following :
- The NAPLES market : daily statements of sales on the central market including details such as; species, quantities, global value of the operations, minimum and maximum prices, and this for 1982, 1983 as well as the first five months of 1984,
- The Pozzuoli market : an estimation of authorized agents from the Pozzuoli market (visited by the mission),
- The Torre Annunziata, Salerno and Mugnano markets : estimation of authorized agents from the Pozzuoli and NAPLES markets.
- The wholesale market in NAPLES only trades about 30 % of commercialized fish.
C. THE MARKETS OF LIGURIA, TUSCANY, PIEDMONT, etc…
- The wholesale-importers of GENOA supply a zone which includes :
Liguria, a part of Tuscany (Viareggio) and of Piedmont (TURIN, NOVI LIGRE, VERCELLI,
etc…) as well as a part of Lombardy. From time to time, they also supply Southern
Central Italy.
The distribution market of GENOA distinguishes itself as it is essentially (over 80 %) an import market. Its main suppliers are :
- France : Breton bass, sea bream, bass form SETE, farmed bass from SETE (1),
- Spain : sea bream and bass, approximatly 20 tonnes of which have an aquaculture origin,
Portugal : bass and sea-bream.
- This market also distinguishes itself because, at times, in order to keep good relations with the big suppliers, the importers have to sell stock outside of their zone of influence. This is how the Southern Central parts of Italy are sometimes supplied.
- Other than wholesale importers who distribute their products directly, the Greek municipal wholesale market trades about 20 to 30 tonnes per year, less than 10 % of consumption. Small retailers from the Centre of GENOA get their supply from this market.
- It is interesting to note that the wholesalers in GENOA refuse to buy fish from Venitian lagoons while they buy some from other Italian regions (ORBETELLO, Ittica Val d'AGRI).
D. THE LOMBARDY MARKET
- The consumer market of Lombardy includes MILAN, big cities such as BERGAMO, PAVIA, PIACENZA, COMO, etc… It is supplied by wholesale importers based in MILAN.
- The imports mostly come from France, Portugal and Spain. The local production mostly comes from the Chioggia market which is the main Venitian fishing port and the centre of commercialization of Venitian lagoon production.
- Apart from Lombardy, the wholesalers from MILAN supply in part :
TURIN's consumption via intermediary wholesalers from TURIN,
In the summer, the two Ligurian Rivieras (from VENTIMIGLA to VIAREGGIO
where they follow their customers). (1)
- For the MILAN municipal market, statistics aren't available for any period prior to 1983. These are monthly statements of quantity and of minimum and maximum prices.
REPORT PRESENTED BY CLAIRE COUDY (CEPRALMAR)
This report is based on studies carried out by CEPRALMAR (Centre for the study and promotion of lagoon and maritime ectivities in Languedoc-Roussillon) on the marketing of shellfish produced in lagoons in the Languedoc area.
1. SHELLFISH PRODUCTION IN THE LANGUEDOC BASIN
French production in the Mediterranean comes mainly from two coastal lakes. The Thau Basin alone is responsible for almost 90 per cent of the shellfish production and most of the work done in the field.
Oyster and mussel culture in the Thau lagoon is performed while employing the suspension method from “tables” fixed to the bottom by stakes. Mussels seed is bought from local fishermen. Oyster seed comes from the Atlantic coast.
There are a total of more than 2,000 “tables” covering an area of 1,300 hectares devoted to shellfish culture. Although official figures are not entirely reliable, the production accounts for about 10 per cent of the national total.
- The family-run production units vary in size and are often put to multiple use. Mixed production of oysters and mussels is widespread, although mussels are gradually being replaced by oysters.
2. THE FRENCH MARKET FOR OYSTERS AND MUSSELS
The national production of cupped oysters, which had been on the increase since 1970, seems to have stagnated over the last few years. The main production area is the MARENNES basin on the West coast.
Foreign trade is extremely weak and mainly concerns the flat oyster. Domestic production determines the volume of national consumption. At the end of the 1970's between 2,500 and 3,000 tonnes of fished flat oysters were imported from Greece (P. FERLIN). These extremely low-priced products are often poorly presented and need to be reprocessed by the importers.
Consumption is relatively stable and unevenly spread over the whole country. Proximity of the production areas is a determining factor for consumption levels, which are low in the North and Centre of the country.
Oysters are festive-season products and considered to be luxury items, Thus consumption is very seasonal. Half the annual consumption is at Christmas and the New-Year.
Being relatively expensive, oysters are eaten by the well-to-do-over-forties. They are considered to be a healthy and natural food which depends on considerable trust on the part of consumers.
Oyster marketing channels are very varied and mostly traditional :
- Direct outlets,
- Wholesale outlets supplying fishermongers,
- Supermarkets.
There is similar variety at the retail stage :
- Supermarkets : 21 per cent
- Direct sales : 14 per cent
- Fishmongers : 30 per cent
- Markets : 24 per cent
- Other : 11 per cent.
The oyster market in France appears to be fairly stable, its consumption being concentrated in the festive season. Supermarkets take an ever-increasing share of sales in a marketing system which continues to be very varied.
MUSSELS
The last few years have seen production increase rapidly. Imports from Spain and Holland are determined by very strong domestic demand.
The consumption pattern appears to be geographically stable; but there are big differences in consumption sizes and forms. Mussels are traditional inexpensive producer, of a less seasonal nature than oysters.
Due to imports, marketing is more concentrated, two thirds of production being sold by wholesalers.
At the retail stage, the sales pattern is :
- Supermarkets : 20 per cent
- Direct sales : 6 per cent
- Fishmongers : 47 per cent
- Markets : 24 per cent
3. THE MARKET FOR OYSTERS AND MUSSELS FROM THE THAU BASIN
It is a narrow, essentially regional market from a geographical point of view, shared between TOULOUSE, MARSEILLE and PERPIGNAN.
60 per cent of mussel production goes to the South-East (MARSEILLE and NICE) 20 to 30 per cent to the Languedoc area, and only 5 to 15 per cent to PARIS and the North.
Where oysters are concerned, the market is restricted to the Mediterranean : MARSEILLE, NICE, the Languedoc region and TOULOUSE.
The limitations of the market are partly due to the fact that the products are in sufficiently well known outside the traditional frontiers of the South of France. Three factors account for this :
- A narrow production base,
- The specific nature of the products (the oyster's meat is more salty and less firm, the quality of the mussels is comparatively inferior),
- The profession lacks organization, producers receive insufficient technical support and direction and behave in a very individualistic fashion, the supply is extremely dispersed, there is no clear picture of the market where prices and quantities are concerned.
Report presented by M. CRESCENZO (France)
Established at the end of 1975 following a very serious crisis, the F.I.O.M. has had a profound effect on marine fisheries. It was created to find remedies for the chronic and structural imbalances of the markets for marine produce. It also has to the production system adapt to new operating conditions.
The F.I.O.M. is a public body of industrial and commercial character under the responsibility of the Ministry which deals with Maritime Fisheries.
From the outset, the F.I.O,M. has acted within the framework of the E.E.C. regulations regarded the organization of markets for marine products in the community. Its structure is based on existing producers organizations in the fisheries sector.
Judging from the complexity and diversity of its mechanisms, the organization of the fish market has reached a very advanced stage. The marker for marine aquaculture products, on the other hand, raises specific problems. Whereas fishing is subject to unpredictable catches, marine aquaculture must be able to control its production levels.
1. TRADITIONAL MARICULTURE
1.1. The state of production in France
According to the Directorate of Maritime Fisheries' official statistics, oyster production in 1984 amounted to 105, 000 tonnes, while mussels reached 51,000 tonnes.
Whereas the national production of oysters is sufficient for domestic consumption, France is a big importer of mussels: what then are the chracteristics of these two production systems?
- Demand has become increasingly concentrated as a result of the grouping together of buyers,
- 60 per cent to the producers' turnover is achieved over a period of three weeks.
1.2. Specific organizational structures
- Shellfish culture regional sections (S.R.C.)
Professional shellfish producers are grouped together in each producing area under “regional sections”. These sections represent the producer's interests in all dealings with governmental institutions.
They also decide under what conditions production should be undertaken in each basin, and who should have access to the latter.
- The shellfish producer's inter-professional Committee
This body represents the regional sections at national level. Its aim is to examine and propose all measures of a general nature concerning shellfish culture to governmental and other concerned institutions.
- The Marine Committee
This was created by decree on March 22nd 1983 and includes representatives from the regional sections. Each shellfish facility has such a commission whose purpose is to define for each facility a type of enterprise (Classification of these enterprises per type of activity. Capture, partial or complete culture).
This policy aims to evaluate minimum production areas according to the nutritional capacity of a particular basin.
Without such a policy, over-loading of production units could lead to biological accidents.
- Producer organizations
The European Community encourages the creation of producer organizations in order to rationalize fisheries and improve marketing conditions.
Recognition of such organizations is decided at Community level and implemented by each member state. Among other things, the aim of the producer organizations is to improve efficiency by increasing supply.
1.3. The role played by F.I.O.M.
- Its role is to ensure that the regional sections and producer organizations work together coherently. By deliberately adopting a Community approach, the F.I.O.M. attemps to bring these two bodies closer together, their functions being of a complementary nature.
- The shellfish culture regional sections have to economic role, but define the structural policy as described above.
- The producer organizations, on the other hand, determine the marketing policy for each facility.
The ideal situation would be that each facility have at disposal a shellfish culture regional section (which is already the case), along with a Producer organization. The latter are the F.I.O.M.'s specific partners, the relationship covering a number of different functions:
The Producer organization is responsible for the quality of the marketed product and is expected to develop a “track-mark” policy, based on a notion similar to that of local wine-production (since there is considerable difference between an oyster from the Mediterranean and one from ARCACHON, pr between the MARENNES and OLERON basins…). The distinguishing factors are, of course, the marine environment and the production methods.
The producer organization should have as precise a knowledge as possible of the stock situation,both at seed collection stage (when it should be possible to predict the potential volume of production after three years), and at practical production stage, so that marketing can be planned.
The producer organization should strive to minimize costs at all levels of the production and marketing process. At the production stage, profit margins can be improved in the following ways :
- By machanized oyster calibration (calibration and packing requiring a large amount of manual labour). research is being conducted by IFREMER in this field;
- By standardizing packing (since manufacturers should be able to reduce costs with the introduction of greater uniformity),
- By improving transport through diversification : this is a problem we are working on for all marine products.
The producer organization Should play a key role for the transport of seed and partially grown oysters between the different facilities, for only two facilities out of five are self-sufficient in this field.
The ARCACHON facility is the only one which has both a shellfish production regional section and a producer organization.
Consumer promotion
Until such time as an ideal system is established, the F.I.U.M. has decided to play a parallel role in this field at the final stages of the production process.
By studying consumer behaviour in cooperation with the profession the F.I.O.M. has been able to design a communication strategy aimed at inducing people to eat more oysters outside the festive season, so as to spread the sales period over six months instead of the present three months. This action is decisive in as much as it should lead to an improvement in the financial structure of production units.
2. MARICULTURE WHICH IS STILL AT TO RESEARCH STAGE (Sometimes referred to as new aquaculture)
Marine aquaculture has not yet reached the marketable production stage. Culture methods have not yet been completely mastered: there are still problems connected with feed, disease control, equipment, and the transfer from laboratory to industrial-scale production.
The F.I.O.M. has worked on two species: trout raised in sea-water and clams at two very different stages of development.
Trout raised in sea-water
Production was at a critical level (200 tonnes) : This volume was large enough to cause producer marketing problems, but insufficient to warrant promotion of the product.
Clams
It seemed essential to make sure of commercial outlets for this produce before developing it on a larger scale. There was on urgent need to inform producers before they embarked on the production of this species in a disorderly fashion. A market study was therefore conducted.
The F.I.O.M.'s work on these two cases make it clear that great prudence is required where technology transfer is concerned.
It is always essential to make sure that producers do not embark on the production of species whose culture is not yet mastered and which will necessarly require state intervention unwarranted by the level of commercial interests involved.
However, the experience gained from these two examples does not yet provide all the answers to the marketing problems of aquaculture products.
There is reason to belive that when we have mastered the raising of a wide enough range of species, it will be possible to market them through different channels from those traditionally used for marine products.
A “trade mark” policy could be based on the following positive factors :
- Aquaculture products have the potential to be both homogeneous and to satisfy consumer preferences.
- There should be a regular supply.
