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Kingfish company partners with Conad to sell yellowtail in Italy

Dutch aquaculture firm, The Kingfish Company has entered into a partnership with Italian retail outfit Conad. The alliance will enable The Kingfish Company to sell its non-genetically modified (non-GMO), Dutch yellowtail in the supermarkets of Conad across Italy.

Also known as as the Ricciola Kingfish, the yellowtail will be the first of the seriola lalandi species to be sold in Conad’s stores. The fish will be sold under Conad’s own brand, Percorso Qualita.

Conad, which was established in 1962, operates one of Italy’s largest supermarket chains. The company is reported to corner as much as 15 per cent of the market share in 2020.

The partnership, which was announced yesterday, is an example of The Kingfish Company’s new strategy, which it recently adopted to boost the sales of its land-based farmed yellowtail in Europe and the United States, and to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In February this year, The Kingfish Company said the pandemic prompted it to pivot retail and direct-to-consumer sales as more and more restaurants began closing down.

The company credits this move to its ability to weather the pandemic and even increase sales in Southern Europe.

The Kingfish Company’s current annual production capacity at its Kingfish Zeeland facility in the Netherlands is 1,500 tons of high-quality and high-value yellowtail kingfish.

Capacity in the Netherlands will reach 3,500 tons in the second half of 2022.

In the U.S., permitting for the company’s 8,500 tons capacity facility is progressing. Production in the facility is expected to commence in the second half of 2023.