Produits de la mer - n°181 - Avril 2018 - 123

Dossier ❘ BULOT

Asia on a buying spree
Japan, Korea or China find
in France what is no longer
available in Canada,
in Ireland or in the United
Kingdom, and this situation
raises the stakes.

B.V.

Cooked meat of large whelk (25 pieces/kg) shelled in Ireland.

British processors such as Macduff or
Kingfisher Seafood are not to be outdone.
"All our production goes to Asia," admits
Omar Namor, manager of Kingfisher, with
no specification on exported quantities.
For its part, the Dutch company Lenger
owns a factory in the United Kingdom to
supply the Asian market.
As the potential of the United Kingdom
is exploited to the full, the transfer of
Asian demand is clearly felt in France.
Especially as the French whelk has a quality rating underlined by several protagonists, such as Kermarée, Crustafrais,
Nouvelle Pêcherie de Normandie and
Direct Océan. "A Japanese company
came for several days to assess the quality of the product according to specific
requirements, more demanding than
those of the Koreans or the Chinese,"

Whelk meat
(10 kg block)
shipped to China:

12 16
to

€/kg

observes Damien Levallois, head of
Nouvelle Pêcherie de Normandie.
"Asia is an opportunity-based market
with orders of a thousand tons at a time,"
he continues, "but let us be careful not to
penalize the usual customers." A point of
view which is shared by Pascal Lecardonnel
at Kermarée: "Some non-specialized companies ship containers to Asia because of
a strong demand. Prices rise artificially but
the upward trend can also stop abruptly."
At GS Normandie, Yoann Guérin evokes
the long payment deadlines: "Three weeks
after the departure of the containers."
The company based in Bréville groups its
exports of frozen whelk with GBV/SMT
at Boulogne. Present in Asia through
its activity linked with salmon and tuna,
Direct Océan is developing a qualitative
niche in Japan. ■

L'internationale du bulot

P
L.F.

nder pressure from Asian buyers,
a vast system on the model of
communicating-vessels permits
the purchase of whelk from the
different fisheries. With decreasing quantities over the years, Canada is, however, much less present. "Checks on the
resource in Newfoundland are draconian
and as long as stocks are not fully rebuilt,
demand will exceed supply," points out
Sandrine Étienne, sales manager of Ocean
Choice International in France. Canadian
boats owners only ship to Japan a few
containers full of whelk, frozen and packaged on board. "We used to be able to
meet French demand to cover certain
periods," adds the manager.
This was also the case in Ireland and the
United Kingdom but these countries are now
targeting the Asian market. "In the space of
a few years, big contracts have been signed
with China, South Korea and Japan," confirms Yohann Pierard, Sofrimar sales manager. The Irish exporting company processes
a thousand tons of whelk a year and 80%
of its sales to Asia are made up of raw and
cooked meat: small and medium sizes for
preserves, large sizes for topping, eaten raw
in sushis. "Asians are ready to pay the price
on a value-added product such as meat,"
Yohann Pierard is pleased to say.

lusieurs filières apparaissent dans les échanges avec l'Asie. Le bulot peut s'exporter
surgelé cru vers le Vietnam où il est décongelé et décortiqué à la main puis tranché.
Conditionnées sous vide, les lamelles de bulot sont réexportées par avion au Japon.
Le bulot surgelé cru peut aussi subir une cuisson et un décorticage au Vietnam avant
sa mise en conserve.
Les Européens exportent de la chair cuite surgelée de gros bulots vers la Corée pour
la conserve. C'est le débouché traditionnel mais l'exportation de chair crue se développe depuis quatre ou cinq ans pour la consommation japonaise en sushi et sashimi.

PRODUITS DE LA MER N°181 AVRIL 2018

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Table des matières de la publication Produits de la mer - n°181 - Avril 2018