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Home / Etosha launches new Horse Mackerel flavours
Etosha launches new Horse Mackerel flavours
2018-07-26Staff Report 2 Eveline de Klerk SWAKOPMUND - Despite facing numerous challenges with regards to low Pilchard catches and subsequent temporary ban on the fishery, Etosha Fishing Company has managed to sell 4.7 million cans of their trademark Efuta Maasbanker product since 2013. Riding on that success, the only canning facility in Namibia yesterday introduced two brand new products in the Efuta range, namely Efuta in curry sauce and Efuta mince in tomato sauce. The company’s other flavours, Efuta in tomato and chilli sauce has so far sold 4.7 million cans in Namibia since its introduction in 2013. Hence, the company saw it necessary to expand on its brand by introducing new flavours. Speaking at the launch, Etosha Managing Director Pieter Greef said that although they were uncertain of the uptake of the product, they were sure of one thing – a quality product. “Not only was our Efuta range the first canned Namibian product to receive the Namibian Standards Institutions’ mark of conformity, but from the start it was Halaal Certified and proudly carried the Team Namibia product stamp,” explained a proud Greef. According to him, the first year of production, they sold an estimated 80,000 trays, which increased in 2015 to 180,000 trays and again in 2016 with an estimated 390,000 trays sold. He added that the brand was initially launched as a trial run in response to government’s call of value addition instead of exporting Namibian products. “The venture also paved way for more sustainable fisheries operation with secure, long term employment for our employee, a fact that has become apparent in recent years with the demise of our pelagic resource. Thanks to the canning of Efuta we are able to keep our cannery’s doors open,” he said. Greef also indicated that they have secured contracts with South African companies, Glenrick and Lucky Star, to can pilchards for them until the end of 2019. They will now also import about 50 000 tonnes of frozen pilchards from Morocco and Mauritania for canning. A very impressed Minister of Fisheries, Bernard Esau said Etosha fishing gives true meaning to value addition, especially for the Horse Mackerel fishery. “The Horse Mackerel fishery has the largest quota, but are doing poor in terms of job creation. We want to see more factories, more value added to our products, despite all the litigation that was against me. All that I wanted was value addition. We cannot export jobs while our people are in the streets without employment. Etosha showed us it is possible to do so with Horse Mackerel,” Esau said. 2018-07-26Staff Report 2
