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Top Story mature markets like the United States and Europe, which are experiencing deep and protracted fiscal woes. As many American European consumers and find themselves unable to afford much fish, consumers with growing incomes elsewhere in the world are increasing their seafood consumption, even for high-end or non-tra- ditional items like American lobster and farmed salmon. Suppliers near and far are trying to take advantage. In 2009, four budding Market targets BRICS nations are no longer just supplying seafood — they're buying it W Emerging ith rising raw material costs and sluggish economies squeezing seafood suppliers worldwide like a vise, it's no wonder so many are looking beyond traditional markets to stimulate sales. Exporters in countries like Norway, Australia, Vietnam and even the United States want a piece of the action in places where finances aren't forbidding. Want to grow? Go where the growth is. economies in South America, Africa and Asia represent a ray of hope for seafood suppliers 22 SeaFood Business September 2012 strug- gling to maintain profitable ventures in established and economies formed a coalition to reform financial institu- tions and secure greater glob- al influence; as it stands, they all happen to be consuming more seafood. Brazil, Russia, India and China were joined the following year by South Africa, and the group known as BRICS began asserting itself. At the G20 Summit in Mexico in June, the five- country alliance pledged $75 billion to boost the In- ternational Monetary Fund's (IMF) lending power. While they're often still referred to as third-world nations, BRICS members are arguably in better economic shape than some developed countries: Te IMF recently said the Eurozone was at a "precari- ous" point and some analysts predict the group could over- take the G7 developed econo- mies within 15 years. But before you hop on a plane to Sao Paolo, Mumbai or Moscow, understand that opportunities markets present in emerging significant challenges. For one, finding a dance partner you can trust to not step on your toes can be problematic. And that's only after you navigate myri- ad cultural, language, politi- cal and regulatory barriers. With big potential comes big risk. "If it really were that easy to sell seafood to Asia, the Producers realize they need to go where the growth is, including BRICS. Middle East and Russia, then Pacific [Seafood Group] or Trident [Seafoods] would have set up offices there years ago," says Alex Babadzhanov, general manager of Alaska flatfish and groundfish ex- porter SOGDA Ltd., based in Kirkland, Wash. "If it's risky to $1 billion compa- nies, it's going to be risky for a small company." SOGDA's main business is exporting; thus, it's become quite familiar with hunting down opportunities in new markets and exploring all the legal and logistical require- ments to do so. Te company established an office in Qin- gdao, China, five years ago, initially as a quality-control headquarters for its process- ing operations. But when the economic crisis hit soon thereafter, export volumes to Russia plummeted and the company repurposed the facility into a logistics hub and a sales office targeting the Chinese market. "[Local] consumption went up, so we kept the office open," he says. It was a wise move: Pre- viously, about 75 percent of SOGDA's sales went to Rus- sia, says Babadzhanov. Tat share has since dropped to only about 25 percent, al- though the company is com- mitted to its markets in the region; Babadzhanov hails from Uzbekistan and re- quires all of his workers to speak a second language. Confronting and other exporters domestic SOGDA target- ing Russia is the govern- ment's seafood push. One tactic has been to drive up import duties on popular items like salmon roe. Babadzhanov says fully cured salmon roe, or salmon caviar, now carries a hefty tax, so suppliers are focusing Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com Illustration by Laura Lee Dobson