Kingfish Co strikes Italy store chain deal
Dutch on-land fish farmer The Kingfish Company has announced a partnership with European retailer Conad, which has more than 3,300 outlets, primarily in Italy.
The Kingfish Company said the deal makes its yellowtail kingfish, known as ricciola in Italy, widely available in Italy with immediate effect.
“The Ricciola Kingfish will be sold under Conad’s own brand, Percorso Qualità, certifying a guaranteed highly controlled supply chain,” the fish farmer said in a press release.
“This marks a strategic partnership for The Kingfish Company with Conad, which is the Italian leader in the retail sector, reporting 15% market share in 2020. Selected for quality and taste, the Ricciola Kingfish product is the first of the seriola lalandi species to be sold by Conad.”
More retail
The agreement with Conad is part of a continuing expansion into retail by The Kingfish Company, which sells its fish under its own brand through Albert Heijn, the largest store chain in The Netherlands, and Whole Foods Market in the United States.
The Kingfish Company grows yellowtail in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in Zeeland. Earlier this month the company said that after almost four years of continuous system operation and 23 full production cycles from hatchery to harvest - with no mass mortality incidents – it had increased the currently installed capacity guidance of the plant from 1,250 tonnes to 1,500 tonnes per year.
Production record
The increase in capacity guidance also applies to planned facilities. An expansion currently under way in Zeeland was envisaged to take capacity to 3,000 tonnes, and this has now been adjusted to 3,500 tonnes.
The annual capacity guidance for a planned RAS facility in Maine in the United States has been raised from 6-8,000 tonnes to 8,500 tonnes.
In Q3 2021 the company set a new production record with 338 tonnes growth, an increase of 26% over the previous record achieved in the first quarter of this year.
