Morocco

One of the kingdom's largest fishing companies is to carry out ambitious new plans for expansion into the Japanese market.

Morocco's waters have for years produced some of the world's most sought after and plentiful harvests of all kinds of fish products. Long ago, Japan discovered the exquisite taste of the squid, octopus and cuttlefish caught in Moroccan waters. In fact, current relations between the two countries have been further strengthened by the extensive trade in products of the sea.

In recent years, however, the domination of Moroccan produce in the Japanese market has been threatened by new competitors from around the world. Indeed, since the year 2000, a combination of over-fishing on one hand and a resulting restrictive quota system on the other has seen Morocco's market share in Japan fall significantly from the 90 percent recorded just a few years ago.
Radouane El Khayate, director general of Maripeche

With the review of the quota system in Morocco currently underway, one of the "big five" fishing companies in the country - Maripêche - is looking forward to once again serving its Japanese clients with the world's best cephalopods. Working with its long time partners in Japan - the trading houses Maruha, Mitsubishi, Marubeni and Nichire - Maripêche's strategy is to be ever closer to its final customers and to respond quickly to their needs.

Certain of reclaiming its position as one of the leading suppliers of cephalopods to Japan, Maripêche views the positive development as merely the beginning of a whole new adventure in this market. In 2003, the company will deliver its first ever shipment of frozen sardines to Japan, and it is banking on supplying up to 25,000 tons annually.

The venture into deep-water products, which will have been caught, processed, frozen, and packaged directly aboard the company's 40 fishing factory ships, unleashes the enthusiasm of the company's director general, Radouane El Khayate. "The prospects for this new business are huge," he says, "and our partners and customers have already shown tremendous interest."

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