June 12, 2006

Tilapia company plans takeover of catfish processor in the Netherlands

Fishion Processing has announced plans to take over Walraven Visverwerking BV, the largest Dutch Catfish processor.

Fishion Processing is a Joint Venture between ZonAquafarming BV and Anova Food BV, two major companies in the farming of Tilapia in The Netherlands.

All products will be marketed by the Anova organisation while ZonAquafarming BV would be in charge of every production stage from breeding to harvesting.

Issues like quality assurance and feed control are monitored throughout the chain, said Anova Food adding there would be optimum efficiency if the processing of tilapia and catfish is combined.

With fish consumption growing, wild catch is not likely to meet demand. Thus, the Fishion alliance is in a position to provide a sustainable and traceable solution, a statement from Anova Food said.

Fishion aims to increase current production of 4000 tonnes a year to 10,000 tonnes within 4 years.