Sea Harvest has reported growth in demand for white fish as sanctions related to the Ukraine war have ruled out Russian competitors from the US and European markets.
Sea Harvest reported a 6% increase in revenue to R6 billion for the year ended December 2023, despite the negative impact of above-inflation cost hikes, load shedding, and higher interest rates.
The company’s profit declined 8% to R269 million but it reported that it expected the price of fish to remain elevated for the foreseeable future with growth in demand from Europe.
"There has been a strong increase in demand in Europe for many of our products, particularly hake and other white fish products," CEO Felix Ratheb told News24.
"Russia is a large producer of those and is now unable to sell in our traditional markets of Western Europe and the US due to the war in Ukraine. Demand has increased by about 24% in Europe. Our fishing business performed incredibly well.”
Ratheb said fish exports to Europe, Australia and Asia comprised almost half of its global business, while it was also experiencing growing demand for abalone products from China.
