As Portugal tries to conquer new markets, the country's fish-canning industry sees healthy growth

Title : As Portugal tries to conquer new markets, the country's fish-canning industry sees healthy growth
Duration : 03:05
Channel : AP Archive
Label : AP Archive, 906740, 64c0f5a39c15ac288f3c00599880b606, Portugal Canning, Lisbon, Portugal, Western Europe, Business, Lifestyle

As Portugal tries to conquer new markets, the country's fish-canning industry sees healthy growth

Just as they did 500 years ago, the Portuguese are busy trying to conquer new markets in a bid to overcome the economic crisis - and it seems that the secret of success comes in a can. Portugal is one of the countries that has struggled the most in Europe's financial crisis but against all odds the bailed-out country's fish-canning industry is growing strongly. At a time when companies are closing due to a deep recession and unemployment is close to 17 percent, a Portuguese company called "A Poveira" has been hiring and investing (m) millions of euros expanding its factory to meet increasing demand for its products. "There is a bigger demand for canned products, as a consequence of better awareness (of the products) from the consumers, there is a new generation of chefs who have started to cook new dishes with canned products.," said Sergio Real, one of the owners of the A Poveira factory, that makes canned fish such as sardines and tuna. The demand has been growing in the local and European markets, but the major push for this industry has been increased exports to the United States, Canada, Peru, Japan, China and a number of other countries. According to Real, between 75 and 80 per cent of the national production is exported, and for most of the their clients, even if it means paying a higher price, they buy Portuguese canned products because they are still made in a traditional way which preserves the natural flavour of the fish. Most of the production process is carried out manually by 130 employees. The canning industry has experienced considerable growth in the last five years. Over the next year, A Poveira expects to increases its sales by more than 100 per cent from five (m) million euros to 11 (m) million euros (6.6 (m) dollars to 14.6 (m) million US dollars. The other way to "export" Portuguese canned fish is by selling it to tourists, who instead of a fridge magnet can buy a "can" and take it at home as a souvenir. That's what the three designers, who created Miss Can thought, when they set up their company "with this crisis and all this situation in Portugal, we realised that it is necessary to reinvent and to create new things," said Barbara Cabral, one of the owners. Cabral said she wanted to expand their operation outside of Portugal and what better way to do that than use the country's strong tourism industry. Curious tourists visiting Sao Jorge castle in Lisbon come across the old-fashioned vehicle full of cans, where customers find not just canned fish but also the story of the canning industry. The designers created a special packaging to keep as a souvenir after eating the product. The prices range from 10 to 16 euros (13 to 21 US dollars) if you decide to buy the fish eggs, considered the Portuguese caviar. The business was opened in July and in one month it has surpassed the owners expectations. As Real said, the new image the Portuguese are trying to give to the traditional canned food is helping to increase the sales in local and European market. An example of the new image for this type of food is "Sol e Pesca" - a "tapas" bar that for 50 years was an old fish shop before it transformed in 2010 to a restaurant. Clients can choose among 160 different kinds of canned fish, 159 from Portugal, that includes not only sardines, tuna and anchovy, but fish eggs or even "lampreia" a delicacy in the north of the country that is only available to eat fresh for a short season, but can now be found year around now that it is canned. Locals and foreigners seem to like the concept of eating high quality canned fish "it is nice to have just a small portion of food" said Lottie Bastianns, a tourist from Amsterdam. The industry has about 3500 workers employed in more than 20 companies. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/64c0f5a39c15ac288f3c00599880b606 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

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