... and becomes one of CT's major fish importers
CONTAINERS HAVE become a familiar sight at the Scandinavian Southern Africa Trading Company in Montague Gardens in the Cape, but Terje Fjeldheim still smiles at the recollection of his very first 'container' delivery - in your everyday cool box.
It's taken Fjeldheim a mere six years to become one of the Cape's major importers of fish products - his Scansa Trade company expects to realise R15-million in sales this year - and he now has his sights set firmly on lucrative Gauteng which currently accounts for only 20% of the business.
He is confident that a further R1,5 million capital injection, almost doubling the premises in size, will enable the company to double turnover within the next three years. New equipment includes an automatic machine capable of slicing 1 000 kg of salmon a day and a machine that fillets a fish in two seconds.
Fresh Norwegian salmon is a culinary fad in South Africa these days, no doubt due to its healthy nutritional image, and in order to keep customers happy Fjeldheim flies in one ton a week at an airfreight cost of R20 a kilogram.
Most of Norway's annual production of 300 000 tons is farmed in the fjords between Stavanger and Trondheim, and from moment of slaughter kept in optimum conditions so that no more than 36 hours will have elapsed by the time the fish is served at the SA restaurant table. Refrigerated life is comfortably seven days.
It's clear South Africans cannot have enough of Norwegian salmon, fresh or smoked, the latter not only selling for less than in Norway but tasting even better.
One of Scansa Trade's largest markets lies in the 300 tons of frozen Norwegian salmon - translated into about 100 000 fish - brought in by sea in containers each year.
About 75% is processed at the company's R3 million plant and sold as smoked salmon under the Blue Fjord label, mostly from Pick 'n Pay
outlets. The Pick 'n Pay
group accounts for one-third
of Scansa Trade's annual turnover.
Salmon aside, Scansa Trade imports oysters from France, Holland and Namibia, herring from Norway and Holland, smoked eel from Denmark, scallops from Scotland, shrimp and mussels from Norway and Iranian Beluga and Sevruga caviar bearing the Caviar House of London label world's finest.
Always on the lookout for potential new markets, Fjeldheim, 50, recently identified a gap and started distributing local line fish.
By Ray Smuts
