McBride Fishing, Carr Shellfish, Sofrimar and Shellfish de La Mer have agreed on a strategic business plan for the joint venture and have developed the Ocean Jade seafood brand, launched on Wednesday.
Collectively, the companies collect annual revenues of EUR 45 million an have established presences in France, UK, Spain, Italy and Korea. With Jade Ireland, the companies aim to expand into China with a range of value-added seafood products including crab, lobster, mussels, prawns, scallops and whitefish.
“Irish seafood enjoys an excellent reputation internationally and with exports to China up to 80 percent so far this year compared to last year, we have a real opportunity to establish a presence in this growing and profitable market,” said Donal Buckley, business development and innovation for the Irish Sea Fisheries Board (BIM). “However, in order to do so, we need to build scale and we are pleased to have assisted four international joint ventures this year including Jade Ireland to ensure we can access and serve key markets effectively.”
Jade Ireland has a fleet of fishing vessels and four processing facilities. The integration of resources across the four companies allows the seafood to be caught and processed quickly and that it is traceable and available year round.
“We are delighted that this venture has come to fruition. The Irish seafood sector is small in comparison to our competitors and we quickly realized that in order to compete effectively and to supply such a large and growing market in China, we would need to use our collective resources to do so,” said High McBride, Jade Ireland director. “Our strategic vision is to establish Irish seafood and the Ocean Jade brand as the leading premium quality seafood on the Chinese market.”
