Alliance Select brings salmon products to PH

Alliance Select Foods International Inc. unit Big Glory Bay (BGB) Salmon & Seafood Co. Inc. is bringing in salmon products to the Philippines under the Superfish brand.

Jonathan Dee, Alliance Select president and CEO, said Monday in a briefing that the company’s first product in the Philippine market was seen to grow “exponentially” as people discover that they can afford salmon, for which there is strong demand due to its perceived health benefits.

The timing is just right to serve an undersupplied “niche” market for “affordable luxury” products such as salmon as robust consumer spending amid sustained economic growth is expected to support sales, Dee said.

“Aside from Pacific Salmon we are looking at other species such as the white fish segment—anything perceived expensive but can be produced more affordably,” Dee said.

BGB is still a small part of Alliance Select’s portfolio, but it is seen to grow globally and may even entail expansion of its processing plant by next year.

This, despite high power cost in its processing base in General Santos City due to the energy crisis in Mindanao.

“We are backed up with power 1:1. We are not considering moving base due to cost,” Dee said.

“Our DNA is in exports but with Superfish, we will be in the domestic market,” said Alliance Select COO and BGB president Teresita Ladanga.

Ladanga said the company’s Philippine expansion was seen to be as quick as its international growth to 60 countries as of end-2012 from 20 countries in 2004.

BGB sales manager and Superfish brand manager Juan Paolo Araneta said Superfish sales had surged in “three-digit” figures from December.

Alliance Select is listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange and best known for its canned tuna, which it produces in the Philippines and in Indonesia. Riza T. Olchondra