09:52 | Lima, Sep. 11 (ANDINA).
The Ministry of Production (Produce) will give a greater push to anchovy (Engraulis ringens) consumption in the national market and abroad, under the denomination ‘Peruvian sardine.’
On the issue, the head of Produce, Mercedes Araoz, said that the anchovy is already being exported under this denomination, and clarified that “it is the same species; nothing else would serve to better identify the national product.”
The promotion of ‘Peruvian sardine' will serve to improve the idea the population has regarding anchovy, commented the minister after inaugurating the 2009 Expo-alimentary Fair, organised by the Exporters Association (Adex) and Corferias del Pacific, the regional centre for business and exposition promotion.
“People think that the anchovy is a bad quality fish, when it is just the opposite, for nowadays it is consumed as a fine product,” he added as quoted by FIS.com.
In addition, he recalled that the domestic anchovy is well-accepted in international markets, where it is sold as `Peruvian sardine' or `Pacific sardine,' Andina reports.
Last month, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) finally included Peruvian anchovy in the Canadian Standard for Sardines.
The decision will allow the canned variety of this product to enter the Canadian market in a few months under the name of “Peruvian sardine,” revealed the Commission for the Promotion of Peruvian Exports and Tourism (PromPeru).
The general manager of the Austral group, Adriana Giudice, observed that the national anchovy is traded in the most demanding markets around the world, such as Spain, France and Germany.
Last year, the group exported 800,000 cases of the pelagic species.
According to Giudice, the sustained growth of the production and export of this product is worrisome for other exporter nations that compete in the international market, like Morocco.
“Morocco is nervous about Peru’s advance in sardine production, since it is the leading canned sardine producer. Our country has 7 million tonnes of anchovy biomass and a good part of that can be transformed into canned product," she indicated.
Anchovy landings totalled 3.6 million tonnes between 1 January and 28 June, 3.32 per cent less than the 3.7 million tonnes landed in the same period in 2008, indicates data furnished by the Peruvian Marine Research Institute (Imarpe).
(END) INT/EEP
Publicado: 11/9/2009