São Paulo – A partnership between two companies, one from Rio Grande do Sul and the other from Spain, is going to open the market for Moroccan sardine in Brazil further. The Leal Santos company, which has Spanish capital and is based in the city of Rio Grande, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and Jealsa Rianxeira, the second largest fishery enterprise in Spain, are going to can sardines and tuna in Rio Grande do Sul. According the director of Leal Santos, Alexandre Llopart, the tuna will be supplied by Leal Santos itself, and the sardine will be imported from Morocco, an Arab country in North Africa.
"The quality of Moroccan sardine is good and the pricing is competitive," explains Llopart. According to the director, even though the sardine will be shipped from Morocco at first, the second supply source option will be Brazil itself, which also produce the fishery. The tuna will be fished by Leal Santos, which maintains six fishing boats in the South and Southeast of Brazil. The canned products will be branded Crusoe, in a reference to the name of Jealsa’s branch in the city of São Paulo, and Crusoe Foods, which will operate in partnership with the Spanish company.
Leal Santos is an old company, established 120 years ago. Its capital was purchased by the Spanish Actemsa, in 2006. Thus far, the company worked only with tuna, which it fished, cleaned and boiled. The tuna was packed and sold in plastic bags to be canned by third parties, and over 90% of it was shipped to Argentina and Spain. Starting late this year, however, the products will start being canned in Brazil. Llopart believes that they will be on the market between November and December.
The fish will be canned at Leal Santos’ facilities themselves, located at an extension of the Port of Rio Grande. From 15 to 20 tonnes of sardine and roughly 20 tonnes of tuna should be produced. Initially, the canned products will be sold on the domestic market. In the future, according to Loopart, the company is going to consider exporting.
Contact:
Leal Santos
Telephone: (+55(53) 3231 1500
E-mail: lealsantos@lealsantos.com
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
