Alaska pollock group awarded USDA funding for projects in Brazil, Colombia, India

The Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) has been awarded a “significant” grant under the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Emerging Markets Program (EMP).

The funding will be put toward projects in “critical” emerging markets in Brazil, Colombia and India, GAPP CEO Craig Morris announced in a press release this week.

Per the USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS), the EMP is a market access program that provides funding for activities “intended to promote exports of US agricultural commodities and products to emerging markets in all geographic regions.” 

GAPP used USDA EMP funding to complete a Wild Alaska Pollock 2040 study, which Morris explained identified Brazil, Colombia and India as the “most promising export markets” with “high potential growth.” The new USDA funding will be going toward better understanding the “specific opportunities these foreign markets offer and bring our industry leaders overseas to interact with new buyers to build even greater global demand for US-caught wild Alaska pollock,” he said.

The funds will be applied over the next year during three distinct trade missions to the countries noted above. Missions will include meetings with GAPP Partnership Program partners, as well as USDA-FAS and embassy officials in each market. GAPP noted that “most critically,” the trade missions will give the ability to meet with new contacts, buyers and potential partners who are interested in using Alaska pollock.

The USDA funding will also go toward researching each market. GAPP’s research in Colombia, for example, will be conducted to examine further opportunities for the Alaska pollock fillet and surimi market in a market that has already seen dramatic increases in demand and consumption. Research in India will focus on growing demand for Alaska pollock surimi seafood products.

“One of the greatest services GAPP can provide to its members is actionable intelligence that they can utilize to sell wild Alaska pollock around the world better,” said Morris. “The research projects we applied to fund are based on real needs from our members to understand the markets they’re working to break into.”

Research in Brazil will be focusing on understanding the “real or perceived demand headwinds in the market due to square shape of wild Alaska pollock fillet products and unfamiliarity by the Brazilian trade and consumer with this product form,” GAPP said.

“The research is intended to develop strategies to address this knowledge gap and develop resources to support more effective sales efforts in the market that promote how wild Alaska pollock fillet shape has no impact on taste, texture or wholesomeness,” GAPP explained of the focus in Brazil.

GAPP’s already been working on building pollock awareness in Brazil, having provided funding to company Noronha Pescados through its Partnership Program.

Noronha Pescados CEO Guilherme Blanke told Undercurrent News, at Seafood Expo North America, in Boston, Massachusetts, in March, his company was primarily using the GAPP funding to promote its Maritos Alaska-based product in Brazil leading up to Easter. Funding has allowed the company to expand the size of its investments in marketing and has helped it to focus more on big promotions outside the store as well as in-store sampling, he said. 

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