“We can skin practically anything, and our yields are up there with the big boys,” said STEEN’s Laurenz Seesing, commenting that the company produces a comprehensive range of equipment.
“This starts with the small tabletop skinning machines, and professional tabletop machines, to freestanding skinning machines that can handle fine and rough-skinned fish such as tuna loins and skate, and the fully automatic high yield skinning machines. The fillets are placed on the belt and come out the other side without skin. So we supply everything from small fish shops to major processors.”
The range doesn’t end there, as STEEN also produces specialised machines for processing eels that had been sold mainly to Dutch customers, but following sales to Canada, they have been fielding interest from potential new markets in Ukraine, New Zealand, Australia and Italy.
It’s this market expansion that is taking STEEN to IceFish in 2021, participating in the exhibition for the first time.
Laurenz Seesing confirmed that they already have several machines in use in Iceland, but STEEN’s activity in the Nordic region dates mainly back to the 1990s, and now they are looking to expand that market and seek out new ones.
“Our equipment lasts 20-25 years, so the timing is ideal,” he said.
“It’s about gauging the market and finding out where the interest lies – and often it’s not where you expect it to be. In China we expected enquiries about handling tilapia and salmon, but in fact we were asked most about skinning squid. We notice that local and national exhibitions are the ones that generate serious enquiries we wouldn’t otherwise get. Of course we do our homework before we go to Iceland, but it’s important to be there and experience the market for ourselves,” he said.
“We need to bring our business to the customer.”
If you are interested in exhibiting, sponsoring, attending or speaking at 2021 IceFish please call +44 01329 825 335 or email info@icefish.is.
International sales:
Diane Lillo Tel. +44 1329 825 335 or email dlillo@mercatormedia.com
Icelandic sales:
Birgir Þór Jósafatsson Tel: +354 896 2277 birgir@icefish.is or Bjarni Thor Jonsson GSM: +354 896 6363 bjarni@icefish.is
