From left, Ozan Köseoglu, QA supervisor; Serdar Cenk Akarlar, plant director; Ismet Sanli, production manager; Ahmet Baspehlivan, purchasing manager; Mustafa Ipek, HR manager
Kopuzmar was established in 1991, but operations actually started five years earlier when the company put 600 gilthead seabream juveniles in cages in the sea. Since then the company has grown significantly, producing juveniles and fish feed, farming seabream and seabass, and processing fish in to value added products.
Most exporting companies in the Turkish fish farming sector farm seabass and seabream, process the fish and export it fresh or frozen. The degree of processing varies from graded whole round fish to highly value added products. Companies are aware that whole round, or even gutted seabass and seabream runs the risk of becoming a commodity and are making efforts to distinguish their product from their competitors. Some however are investing in greater value addition, offering their customers a customised product and a service that is more expensive and more difficult to replace.
New owners, new priorities
Among the exponents of the latter approach is Kopuzmar, a company that produces a number of highly value-added products for export to the EU. These products are based primarily on seabass, seabream, meagre, and trout of which the company farms the first two, while the latter are obtained from the market. The company’s interest in value addition goes back several years when it took over the clients of another company that was doing similar products, but that went into receivership. In 2013 Kopuzmar underwent a change of ownership as a private equity company took a majority stake in the firm. The new ownership has meant changes in staffing as some people left and others were hired, but the company retained its core of highly experienced staff, says Serdar Cenk Akarlar, the plant director, and himself one of the newly hired experts.
The new owners have devised a new strategy for the company which will prioritise quality, freshness, traceability, as well as environmental and social responsibility. Realising the strategy will call for the implementation of new systems and standards and the company will also need to find new customers particularly in the UK. We have to reposition ourselves on the market, find different segments, and get better at retaining our customers. Among the changes the company is looking at is to have only one customer for each product segment to reduce the risk of offering the same product to different customers at different prices. More production under private labels is also foreseen and the company will also invest more in trying to build a market in the United States for its products.
Farm production capacity can increase
Kopuzmar has its own cages with fish, but this is not always enough to supply its customers. In such instances the company will buy the fish from outside, for example, from Kilic, or another big producer. This is also the case if the company has the fish, but they are the wrong sizes. Externally-sourced fish however typically accounts for not more than 10% of the production. As Mr Akarlar says, the company can expand the number of cages on its site if necessary, because it has the space, but for the moment it can generally manage with the existing capacity. Kopzmar’s annual production is about 5,000 tonnes of which seabass amounts to 60-70%, while the balance is seabream. While the production capacity at the farming sites can be increased without too much trouble, the same cannot be said for the processing facility. Since the change of ownership the volume of fish being processed has increased significantly and if the growth continues the plant will need to be expanded. Part of the reason for the growth is the renewed focus on quality, an attribute which, according to Mr Akarlar, got diluted at some point in the past and led ultimately to a change in ownership.
Factory expansion under consideration
Over the next few months the company is expecting a big increase in the volumes that will be processed at the plant as the cold season starts. Mr Akarlar will then have a better idea as to whether the plant can handle these quantities of fish with the new systems in place. The outcome will determine whether the factory needs to be expanded and how urgent it is. The plant is already certified to several standards including IFS and BRC and is now seeking certification to the Global G.A.P. standard. In order to meet the requirements the company may seek help from external consultants. The focus on standards stems in part from a vision of the future where products from Kopuzmar are irrevocably associated with high quality. Other Turkish fish processing companies will try and sell the same products to Kopuzmar’s customers, says Mr Akarlar, but as long as Kopuzmar’s quality is better it will have an undeniable advantage.
| Ugurlu Balik Üretim Ve Ticaret LTD. STI. | |
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Atanaj Deresi Mevkii No. 25 Tel.: +90 256 846 2412 | Plant director: Mr Serdar Cenk Akarlar Products: Seabass, seabream, meagre, trout Product form: Frozen fillets and ready meals Volumes: 5,000 tonnes (whole fish) Markets: Europe, Russia, Middle East, North Africa, USA Employees: 390 |
The company sells small quantities of whole round fish on the domestic market. All the other products are frozen and packaged either in retail
packs or vacuum packs and are exported. The products are usually fillets with some whole gutted fish as well. Most of the production is sent to wholesalers and distributors who sell in turn to the retail sector. However, the company is very interested in selling directly to the retail sector and is hoping to start this next year. These products are frozen portions of fish that are packed in an aluminium tray either with or without a sauce and the portions are then placed in a retail bag. On the other hand, a number of these portions could also be vacuum packaged together for a wholesaler. The consumer can place the aluminium tray directly in the oven for 15 or 20 minutes to get a ready meal. These products are produced under private label for some of the biggest manufacturers of frozen seafood products in Europe.