INDONESIAN PROCESSED TUNA PRODUCTS ONE OF WORLD'S BEST

Manado, May 14 (ANTARA) - Indonesia's processed tuna fish product is one of the best in the world at present, Anova Food Group President Blane Olson said here on Thursday.

"Indonesian processed tuna fish product now is one of the world's best," he said.

The condition was far different compared to that 10 to 15 years ago when the country's processed tuna fish product still had a lot of shortcomings.

He said it wook up to 15 years to make the country's fish processing industry to improve like now.

He said it would give an added value to process fresh fish into fish products rather than selling it raw.

"It is better to process it to give it an added value than just shipping the fish from one to another region, which could also reduce its quality and price," he said.

Regarding tuna supply in the country Olson said it had dropped sharply. "Five years ago every day is a heaven for fishermen. Now seven days of heaven in a month are already good," he said.

He said actually 2009 was a good year for tuna fishing compared to last year when the catch had caused worries for tuna fish processing industrialists.

He said fishing using a hook gave better catch than using a long line. "We support fishermen who fish using a hook. While their catch is a lot the quality of their catch is also bettr," he said.

Olson said his company now bought steak tuna from Bali, Makassar and Jakarta for exports to the US and Europe.

"Eighty percent of his processed tuna is exported to the US and 20 percent to Europe," he said.

He said fish processing companies in the country needed to assure that their products were certificated sustainable seafood products.

He said consumers in the US and Europe were now more critical on the fish product they consumed. They would always ask about the country of origin of the products they would consume.