Iceland review - 2015, Qupperneq 87

ICELAND REVIEW 85
According to Páll Snorrason, managing
director of Eskja, the company mainly
draws its strength from fishing and pro-
cessing pelagic species, easily accessible due to
its location in the East Fjords. Founded in 1944,
the company built its first fishmeal and oil fac-
tory in 1952. The factory was expanded in 1963
following increased catch of herring. In 1967
the herring stock collapsed, a blow for the com-
pany, the town and the entire country. However,
the sourcing for the fishmeal and oil factory was
soon replaced by capelin, which has been caught commercially off Ice-
land since the mid-seventies.
MAXIMIZING VALUE
“So much has changed since then,” says Páll, referring to how the
company is now focusing on more pelagic species, in addition to her-
ring and capelin, also making mackerel and blue whiting products.
“There has been a change from fishmeal and oil production towards
increased freezing of pelagic products directly for human consump-
tion,” Páll explains, adding: “We have to keep developing, adjust our
strategy to be competitive and maximize the value of our marine re-
sources. This trend has been developing fast and we have been selling
our frozen pelagic products in Eastern Europe and are also entering
markets in Asia and Africa.”
COMPANY FLAGSHIP
Eskja operates one freezing vessel, M/S Aðalsteinn Jónsson, bought
from Norway in 2006. It’s well-equipped for producing fillets, H/G
(headed and gutted fish) and different kinds of frozen goods, mainly
from herring and mackerel.
All offcuts, trimmings and other leftovers are taken to the fishmeal
and oil factory. The fishmeal and oil is sold to the Norwegian salmon
aquaculture industry, where Eskja’s products are considered to be
a vital part of the industry’s consolidated value chain. The factory
produces fishmeal at a low temperature, making it high in quality
and rich in protein; its content is 71 percent, or even higher.
CHALLENGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Eskja’s products account for roughly 10 percent of the pelagic in-
dustry in Iceland. “The business environment is challenging for a
medium-sized company like Eskja due to fluctuations in stock bio-
mass, or raw material, and we also need to have available funds for
the very investment-intensive pelagic industry. It’s also challenging
for us and other Icelandic seafood companies to adapt to increased
consolidation of the global supply chain for our products. I believe
that our focus going forward should be in organizing our sales and
market activity towards more cooperation to cope with this,” Páll
concludes.
eskja.is
LONG HISTORY,
MODERN APPROACH
With a history that goes back 70 years, Eskja hf. is one of the oldest seafood
companies in Iceland. Its story is intertwined with that of Eskifjörður, the small
East Fjords town of around 1,000 inhabitants in which it is based.
Páll Snorrason,
managing director.
SPECIAL PROMOTION
SEAFOOD ICELAND
CONFERENCE 2015