Directors at fish farming company Asmak are upbeat after the firm reduced its losses by almost 75% in the first nine months of 2005, compared with the same period last year.
The Ajman, UAE-based company reduced losses to AED5.72 million for the first nine months of 2005, compared with AED22.19 million for the same period last year, according to the firm’s financial statements.
The company also earned sales revenues of AED16.8 million from farmed fish in the first nine months of 2005, compared with AED8.1 million by the same stage in 2004.
The improved figures are a result of a management shakeup and new initiatives at Asmak, which is also known as the International Fish Farming Company. “Over the past year, the company went seriously awry, but we’re trying to pull the whole thing back together again,” Shaun Clark, Asmak’s marketing development manager, told RNME.
Asmak, which supplies fresh fish to leading supermarkets and distributors across the GCC and exports to countries including the USA and China, ran into problems after it attempted to farm various European fish species in the Arabian Gulf, some of which failed.
“In the beginning, the company tried to farm varieties of fish from Europe and only one of them has really worked, which is European sea bream,” Clark said. “The problem is that from the time you think of an idea to actually farming a fish, it takes about 10 years to get the show on the road.”
But by using new technology and more suitable species of fish, Asmak is hoping to turn around the fortunes of its farmed fish business, which accounts for about 50% of the fish it brings to market.
“We hope to go through with much more realistic species, and that technology is also in place now to pick up and run with,” Clark said. “We’ll be using technology that is suitable to this area, rather than thinking we can just import European type systems and get them to work.”
Asmak is also planning to introduce ready-to-eat packages to its portfolio, in partnership with other companies, according to Clark. “We’re looking at ready-to-eat packages and tying up with other companies that have more applicable expertise rather than making the mistake of choosing the wrong people or trying to develop in house,” he said. “You can make mistakes both ways and we’re conscious of the mistakes we’ve made in the past and are trying to get it right next time.”
Asmak also plans to market its products in the US and China, and is working in partnership with companies in those countries. “We’ve tied up with an American organisation, and there’s active back-up and support coming from here. They’re a supplier, and we’re splicing ourselves in an existing American supply and distribution chain. We can hopefully go forward rapidly. Compared to the history of this company, things are very positive.”
Asmak was established in 1999. It has two fish farms in Oman, and one fish farm and five retail outlets in the United Arab Emirates.
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