Mira Fish is aiming to diversify sales of its anchovies and sardines beyond Europe.
The Agadir, Morocco-based specialist in marinated anchovy and sardine products exhibited at the 2024 Seafood Expo Asia in Singapore in early September with the goal of meeting new clients.
“Most of our clients are based in Europe, and we want to diversify to Asia. We think with our higher-quality product and Morocco’s big reputation for frozen seafood, we have a good chance of success,” Mira Fish General Director Meriem Amini told SeafoodSource.
The company exclusively manufactures semi-finished and finished products, including banderillas fillets with flavorings such as Provençal, Lemon and Basil, and Oriental.
“Everything is manufactured by hand in our factory, made with love,” Amini said.
Mira Fish’s current annual production is around 500 metric tons, with 80 percent exported to Italy and the remainder primarily sent to France and Spain.
The company’s differentiating factor is its obsession with meeting high standards, Amini said.
“We have control over the fish from the source to the final product, so the quality is always the best. We work our hardest to do a product with quality,” she said.
Mira Fish is open to doing business with foodservice operators, retailers, and distributors, Amini said.
“Whoever is interested in our products, we will sell to,” she said. “Right now, we are just a small company, but step by step, we're going to be big in the future.”
Growth of Mira Fish and the country’s seafood industry more broadly is the objective of the National Federation of Seafood Processing Industries (Fenip), a government-backed entity that helps promote and represent the interests of Morocco’s seafood industry abroad. Fenip backed a delegation of Moroccan seafood enterprises in exhibiting at Seafood Expo Asia.
“With over 3,500 kilometers of stunning coastline along the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, Morocco’s maritime treasures are making waves internationally,” it said in a press release. “The country's expansive maritime area of roughly 1.2 million square kilometers and a fishery potential of nearly 1.5 million tons as estimated by the FAO, underscore Morocco’s pivotal role in the global seafood arena.”
Moroccan King Mohammed VI has recently outlined a renewed national emphasis on seafood as a key driver of growth for the country.
During his Green March speech in November 2023, Mohammed said the country is developing the port of Dakhla to become a regional hub of container, energy, and consumer goods trading, according to Blue Life Hub. The king called for the development of a national merchant fleet as a means of leveraging his country’s free trade agreement with the United States and enhancing intra-Africa trade along the continent’s west coast.
To do so, he called for greater national military capacity and presence to address security challenges including piracy, terrorism, illegal fishing, and trafficking, necessitating increased military projection capabilities. According to Mohammed, this will also help with integrating the Sahel region into the global economy – a major diplomatic and economic goal for the country.
