Following success at home as a key player in the mid to high-end processed fish market, Giacinto Callipo Conserve Alimentari is taking further confident steps onto the global stage.
“Exports currently make up 11% of our turnover”, explains Angela Neglia, sales director at Giacinto Callipo Conserve Alimentari, “and our key European and non-European markets are Canada, Libya, Austria, USA, Australia, Russia, Israel, as well as much of northwest Europe. Internationally speaking, unlike in Italy, high-quality preserved tuna is not considered a day-to-day food. Historic factors and ingrained eating habits mean that consumption is limited to products that are medium to low quality. Such products are usually tinned tuna chunks or pieces, which tend to originate from Asia or Africa and are fairly low-cost purchases.”
In order to effectively position itself against the international competition, the Calabrian company will offer a range of glass jar preserved tuna varieties. “Our tuna fillets in glass jars”, the manager tells us, “will really allow us to showcase product quality and educate international consumers as to the importance of the contents themselves, as well as the right packaging. We are currently experiencing a surge of interest in Italian produced tuna. Therefore, through our premium priced products we believe we can offer the consumer a genuine taste of the best Italy has to offer, something which is far removed from the way tuna is produced and packaged in the rest of the world. In addition, international consumers seem positively drawn to the more traditional Mediterranean flavours, like our Rustiche and our Capricci di Tonno.” This July saw the company launch an exciting new addition to its product range, the Filetti di Merluzzo Baccalgusto, which is made from lightly salted Nordic cod fillet.
