Photo: Ana Galaxe/Sjømatrådet

Clipfish challenges in Brazil: Port bureaucracy stops millions worth

BRAZIL
Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 07:00 (GMT + 9)

More and more clipfish containers are being stopped in Brazilian ports.

- Complicated regulations make market access challenging, to say the least, say Norwegian exporters who risk large losses.

Brazil is a very important market for the Norwegian clipfish. Last year, Norway exported 19,000 tonnes of clipfish to Brazil, the value was over NOK 1.3 billion (U$D 121,58m). But getting the clipfish into the country is sometimes very challenging for the Norwegian exporters. It is not unusual for containers of clipfish worth several million kroner to be stopped in Brazilian ports. They can remain there for a long time awaiting checks. Sometimes the containers have to be returned to Norway, and in the worst case the fish can be destroyed.

- It can be very expensive, says Espen Roth at the clipfish exporter Scan-Mar.

About half of Scan-Mar's clipfish production, approx. 2,500 tonnes a year, goes to Brazil. During the year, this means an average of 2-3 containers a week. Depending on the type of clipfish, one container is worth between NOK 1.2 and 3.6 million (U$D 112 to U$D 336k). In recent years, Roth has experienced that more and more containers are stopped for checks, and have to wait in the ports for weeks and months.

-If we have to return the containers, it costs between NOK 100,000-150,000 (U$D U$D 9 to U$D 14k). If they remain for a long time, it will soon cost twice as much when port duty and electricity costs have to be paid in addition, says Roth.

Espen Roth at the clipfish exporter Scan-Mar is frustrated by the constant problems with getting the clipfish into Brazil

In 2019, Brazil introduced new and stricter rules for food imports. The legislation is extensive, and the same type of rules apply to seafood regardless of the type of product. Be it fresh, frozen, canned or preserved. The rules for the degree of water content are what affect the clipfish the most. Espen Roth believes that it is different interpretations of the rules, different implementation of the controls, rule of form and bureaucracy that constitute the biggest problems.

And he is not alone. Uncertain market access to Brazil is something most people in the industry experience.

- We do everything we can to follow the rules to the letter, but it doesn't help much when the rules are interpreted differently from port to port and from person to person, says Roth.

Port bureaucracy

The Seafood Council's representative in Brazil, Randi Bolstad, is well aware of exporters' frustration. She confirms that it is in connection with the port controls that the shoe presses the most. Clipfish is a natural product, and each shipment may vary slightly in color or water content. Therefore, it does not always fit into the Brazilian rules with little wiggle room and individual interpretation of the guidelines.

-For example, it only takes 0.1 per cent of the moisture content of the clipfish. This can result in the fish ending up in a different category, and being stopped despite the fact that the fish is perfectly suitable for human consumption.

Also, it can take several months just to wait for the tests to be done on the fish. During the waiting time, the containers are in the port where there is sometimes so-so power access. It can damage the clipfish, which should be kept cool. This creates a new problem: the containers have to be returned due to a lack of cooling.

Time consuming

In Brazil, market access is constantly on the agenda for seafood shipments.

- In general, I spend at least 40 percent of my working time on the problem, says Bolstad, who is based in Rio de Janeiro.

Seafood ambassador Randi Bolstad tests clipfish at a restaurant in Rio de Janeiro

An important task for a seafood dispatcher is the marketing of Norwegian seafood out in the markets. In Brazil, it also helps to make the clipfish visible to the country's authorities.

In addition, the seafood consignment works, through the Norwegian authorities, against the authorities in Brazil. She works closely with the clipfish industry, Team Norway in Rio, the Norwegian Embassy in Brasilia and government officials and food authorities in both countries to improve market access. Simply put, it is about obtaining facts, facilitating, simplifying and explaining.

In periods, market access takes up as much as almost 100 percent of the working time, such as now before Easter.

- Easter is a time when Brazilians eat a lot of clipfish, and it has been challenging to get the clipfish containers through port control in time, says Bolstad.

Stops every second container

Espen Roth in Scan-Mar estimates that there is at least a 50 percent chance that a container will be stopped for inspection in a Brazilian port. As a rule, it goes relatively well, despite paper mills, some waiting time and extra expenses. But he has two of last year's shipments fresh in his mind. Then two containers were left in the port of Santos for so long that they had to return them to Norway.

-Fearing that the fish would be destroyed or confiscated and destroyed, we had to send them back. It cost us dearly, he says.

One of Scan-Mar's fully loaded containers with Easter clipfish. - Hopefully there will be food for the Brazilians during the Easter holiday, says Espen Roth

Roth describes a number of examples where inspectors take samples from the wrong part of the fish. As a result, the samples are rejected by the laboratory. In other cases, it is the laboratory that does not carry out the tests correctly, or it may be that one label has fallen off one of the boxes during transport. Then the whole shipment is stopped. He has also experienced that the rockfish has been refused entry into the country because it was simply too good, that is, it contained too little water according to Brazilian regulations.

-Sometimes it appears simply unrealistic what is tested, what is approved and what is not approved. And the practice has only become more rigid in recent years, says a slightly disappointed Espen Roth.

Towing assistance

This year, Norway is the guest country for the G20 work in Brazil. This means that a number of Norwegian politicians and government officials will visit the country during 2024. The seafood service will benefit from this in its more strategic and long-term work with market access. She is now working on a status report that will record and document all the challenges over time.

- It will give a clear picture of the problems, both with regard to the scope and type of cases. The report will document the problems in a holistic way, and provide a better basis for handling the challenges of market access, says Randi Bolstad.

The report is to be presented to the Norwegian authorities now that Brazil is in focus. The goal is to get market access higher on the political agenda, and with it more support from the top. Bolstad believes this is necessary.

- The department that manages food control in Brazil prefers to communicate with Norwegian authorities who are on the same political level. Therefore, we are dependent on having the Norwegian authorities more strongly on board, she says.

The actual G20 summit takes place in Rio de Janeiro in November. According to the plan, the status report should be ready in good time before the meeting gets underway.

Source: Norwegian Seafood Council (translated from original in Norwegian)

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