Jónas R. Viðarsson, Director of Value Creation at Matís, gave a talk at the Knowledge Center in the Westman Islands on 25 February, entitled "Challenges and the success of Icelanders in further processing and processing of marine products for export from Iceland".
In his presentation, Jónas discussed developments in fish processing in Iceland and sought to answer the question of whether Icelandic companies can approach consumers to a greater extent than hitherto or whether they are doomed to be primarily raw material producers for foreign parties. Jónas took some examples of prices of exported products from Iceland and then finished products out of the store. He reviewed the amount of raw or unprocessed fish exported from Iceland in 2020. Jónas also took some examples of Icelanders' export experiments on finished seafood and considered various reasons that could possibly explain why full processing in Iceland is not greater than she is. He considers various factors as possible reasons why full processing is not greater in this country. In addition, examples were taken of production units abroad that are owned by Icelanders, as the factories are in most cases close to the markets.
At the end of his talk, Jónas briefly discussed some well-chosen fisheries-related research and innovation projects that Matís has been involved in, related to further processing or full processing. Both projects that have been successful, as well as some that have not been successful. Jónas discussed the importance of reviewing both projects that had been successful and projects that had not been successful.
A recording of the talk and the slides can be found on the website of the Knowledge Center in the Westman Islands here.