Swedish fish turn Norwegian

The coast of Bohuslän County stretches from the Norwegian border to Sweden's second largest city, Göteborg (Gothenburg). Both the region and the city have been built on the herring with proud traditions and a 'herring culture' which was also adopted by the Russians. Today the Bohuslän coastline is still the home of the Swedish seafood industry. But the herring have left and the Norwegians have arrived.

Swedish pride

Abba was loved by Swedes decades before the pop group sang their 'Waterloo' in 1974. We are talking about Abba Seafood, and particularly its herring from the Göteborg-based company. And Abba Seafood products are not only loved by Swedes. Herring-loving Germans alone consume about five million jars of Abba herring every year and the French go for Abba caviar. Exports account for 15 per cent of annual turnover and for 2004 total income was 957 million Swedish Krone (SEK -- €100.3 million) and it should pass the billion for fiscal 2005.

Back in 1995, Sweden's leading seafood company was bought by the Norwegian Orkla Foods group, a key food supplier in the Nordic region and ranked number two on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The pattern has become all too clear: the large suppliers of value-added seafood in Sweden have been bought up by Norwegians, and Icelanders in some instances, since the early 1990s.

Abba Seafood started 2005 by buying up Hållöfisk, a significant producer of shrimp, crayfish tails, fish balls and tinned sauce products. This acquisition complemented the Abba product range, reinforced its restaurant and catering business and raised the number of Abba employees to more than 500. But it remains Norwegian.

"The trend is quite logical. Norway has the fish, while Sweden is a member of EU and even has considerably lower production costs. So if the Norwegians wants to refine their fish and get access to the European market, the Swedish coast is a natural choice," according to Bengt Gunnarsson, operations director at Domstein Enghav.

Indeed, back in 1991, the Norwegian Domstein group had already bought an Abba subsidiary, Festab AB, in Kungshamn, Bohuslän. This well-known Swedish producer of caviar and gratins, breaded and pre-fried products, got a new plant (with an annual capacity of 5.300 tonnes of refined products) and then a new name (Domstein Enghav Sverige). At the end of 2003 the specialist firm for caviar, Boviks Konservfabrik in Lysekil, also became a part of Domsteins Sweden.

Iceland as well

Norway's biggest salmon exporter, Lerøy Seafood Group (LSG) in Bergen is also present on the eastern side of the border. In July 2002, LSG acquired three Swedish seafood processors close to the Domstein plant and the main Abba plant. The new LSG subsidiary, Lerøy Smøgen Seafood, produces shellfish in brine, seafood salads and a wide range of smoked fish. Abba's acquisition of Hållöfisk was the latest Norwegian move, making the heart of Swedish seafood industry, the Sotenäs community, almost a piece of Norway.

"Today, Norwegian-owned activity in Sweden accounts for two billion SEK a year, which is a considerable amount of the total Swedish [seafood] turnover," according to Bengt Gunnarsson. As for the Icelanders, they include Fram Foods AB in Lysekil south of Kungshamn and it is the second largest producer of chilled seafood in Sweden, focusing on spreads, herring and lumpfish caviar. The Lysekil company, like Abba, has its origins in the 19th century, but it 'became' Icelandic in 2003 when Fram bought it.

Swedish Findus - so far

Findus still remains in Swedish ownership and it is a global food operator and the dominant company within the frozen, value-added seafood sector in Scandinavia. Turnover for Findus in 2004 was €559 million. Although the early origins of Findus were Nordic, for decades Findus was actually owned and run by Swiss Nestlé. In 2000 Nestlé sold it to EQT, a venture-capital company controlled by the mega-rich, Swedish Wallenberg family.

However, Findus does not appear yet to have made a positive contribution to the Wallenberg's wealth. According to the Swedish newspaper Afärsvärlden, losses since acquisition have now reached 1.4 billion SEK. In fact, EQT has been trying to sell it. In 2003 the Findus owners had long talks with Britain's Doughty Hanson -- without any results. Today the future for Findus is unclear.

A tasty exception

However, Klädesholmen's Seafood is quite another story. The island of Klädesholmen lies north of Göteborg and is one of the remaining herring communities on the Swedish West Coast. Most of the herring outside the coast and also most of the processing factories have disappeared. However, in 2000, four of family companies merged into Klädesholmens Seafood. And it is definitely Swedish-owned!

"It feels a little lonely being the only Swedes left," says co-owner Per-Aste Persson. In 2004, production increased to a total of more than 2,500 tonnes, corresponding to a turnover of SEK 120 million. This makes Klädesholmen Seafood one of the three largest producers of herring products in Sweden. Abba may be the biggest overall, but if we are talking only about herring, then Klädesholmen ranks alongside Fram Food. Alas, the herring used is Norwegian because Swedish processors import most of their fish. "Business has been good, but last year Norwegian herring became very expensive" Persson says. Around 30 percent of his output is exported and the flavour is definitely -- Swedish!