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CONSULTANCY REPORT
FOR
EUROPEAN FOOD TRADING
BY
SIMSAMBRUH CONSULTANCY©

Rodrigues Fardilha, B.D. (20196741) The Business Dimension of Europe,

Oefele, S.M. (20122713) Part B – Case Study
Egmond, S. van (20158386) The Hague University of Applied Sciences
15-12-2020
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

Executive Summary
This paper is a result of a research conducted by Simsambruh consultancy agency for the
European Food Trading (EFT), to select “What might be the new attractive markets in the EU?”.
In order to discover the most attractive market, the study was divided in three steps, containing
three different types of filters, with different indicators and different weights for each indicator, on
exception for the pre-filter’s indicators that weighted the same. The first step, the pre-filter, had
the main purpose on filtering broadly the best market in terms of factors relevant to international
trade. Therefore, compounding the level of prosperity and level of corruption, this step excluded
the most fraudulent states, with high level of misconduct, and unprosperous. Secondly, the
macro-filter, aided in the interpretation of external factors, out of the company’s control. It was
required the use of a demographic, economic and social-cultural factor and another one that
could be valuable to the research. Thus, the countries making to the next phase were evaluated
on the level of English proficiency and openness to new cultures and market, on the gross
domestic product (GDP) per capita and the number of total inhabitants. In result of that, the
countries performing the best were Germany, Sweden and Belgium, and were the ones being
analyzed by micro-filter on the last step. Furthermore, these micro-filters are related to the
industry and market which EFT wishes to set off on, the fish market. Therefore, it was observed
the country with the highest level of fish consumption per capita and the lowest rate of fish
production. It was concluded that the most attractive fish export market in the EU is Belgium. To
complete this study, solely secondary data was made use of. Moreover, a great amount from
this secondary data was qualitative, to evaluate the best performing countries, but also
quantitative to support the motivation in the choice of each criterion.

Table of Contents
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

Introduction........................................................................................................................4

1. Pre-filters.....................................................................................................................5

2. Macro-filters................................................................................................................7

3. Micro-Filter................................................................................................................10

Discussion........................................................................................................................11

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................12

List of References............................................................................................................14
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

Introduction
In 2007, the US housing market crashed, leading to a financial crisis in the USA. Ultimately, on
the September 15th of 2008, the ongoing financial crisis reached his climax with the collapse of
US major bank Lehman Brothers, a sprawling global bank. Consequently, as the Lehman
Brothers bank incorporated other banks and companies all around the world, the financial
issues sky-rocketed, resulting on the 2008 global financial crisis (Amadeo, 2020).

The Netherlands, the small western European country with around 17 million inhabitants and
17th in the world’s GDP rank in 2019 (Silver, 2020), also struggled with the 2008 global financial
crisis. Therefore, companies that were not export-sell their products, experimented difficulties
due to a limited market, customers and, also, a narrow product range. The European Food
Trading (EFT) is a small-scale Dutch company, that trades frozen vegetables and potato
products. Their clients are mainly found in The Netherlands itself, as they were not dependent
on export economy. However, EFT has, as well as other companies, became aware of the
already mentioned limited number of customers and the narrow number of product range,
resulting on a 2-million-euro deficit.

Facing this problem, the management of EFT wondered the expansion of the markets to other
countries in order to enlarge the product range and to attract new customers. As fish is
mentioned as a promising export product, EFT hired an external consultancy agency consisting
of first-year students of the European Studies programme at The Hague University of Applied
Sciences to research the following topic: What is the most attractive export market for
frozen fish products in the EU?

To answer this question, every EU country go through different chosen criteria to find out which
is the most valuable export market for frozen fish products. For this research, exclusively desk
research was made, using various institutional websites and sources as secondary data.
Consequently, qualitative data aided to classify each EU countries on the selected criteria.
Furthermore, quantitative data was also used to motivate each selection of criteria.
Conclusively, the target is to filter out the best performing country, that has the best
opportunities and requirements as an export market for frozen fish products from EFT in The
Netherlands.
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

1. Pre-filters
To begin with, a list of all the EU member states, excluding the Netherlands, is presented. This
list will be narrowed through three filters, being the first filter related to the indicators concerning
international trade. Thus, the two pre-filters that are used in this study are the degree of
corruption and the prosperity level in each member state. Consequently, the lower fourteen
countries will be eliminated from the list of possible countries to export to, and the upper twelve
countries will remain for the next phase. The list of EU members (European Union, 2020)
includes the following states:

 Austria  France  Malta

 Belgium  Germany  Poland

 Bulgaria  Greece  Portugal

 Croatia  Hungary  Romania

 Republic of  Ireland  Slovakia

Cyprus
 Czech Republic  Italy  Slovenia

 Denmark  Latvia  Spain

 Estonia  Lithuania  Sweden

 Finland  Luxembourg

 Degree of corruption
The pre-filter where the degree of corruption is measured is useful, because exporting products
to a country with a high degree of corruption is a high risk for a company. A corrupt country is
untrustworthy to new companies, especially foreign investors, “whilst well performing states in
this criterion have open budget processes, and strong accountability mechanisms” (Kelly, 2014).
Therefore, if EFT wants to set up new markets in other countries, there has to be a trustworthy
governmental situation in that particular state. The data that is researched for this filter is
collected from the Corruption Perception Index from the organization Transparency International
(Transparency International, 2019), and it can be observed under the column designated as
‘Criterion C1’.
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

 The prosperity level

A prosper state translates itself in a high GDP, income and opportunity for business, and
therefore, it is worthful to measure the prosperity level. The data that is investigated for this filter
is collected from the Legatum Prosperity Index from the Legatum Institute (Legatum Institute,
2020) and it is exposed on the column referring to the ‘Criterion C2’. The LPI is “based on a
variety of factors including wealth, economic growth, education” (Šubonis, 2017). In result of
possessing these three qualities, a country is then an attractive export destination.
Pre-Filter Table
Criterion 1 Criterion 2
European
Rankin (C1) - Scor (C2) - Scor Averag
Union
g Corruption e C1 Prosperity e C2 e Score
Countries
Level (CPI) Level
1. Denmark 87 5 83.96 4 4.5
2. Finland 86 5 82.39 4 4.5
3. Germany 80 4 91.14 5 4.5
4. Sweden 85 5 83.64 4 4.5
5. Austria 77 4 80.26 3 3.5
6. Belgium 75 4 76.36 3 3.5 Score Translation Table
Criterion (C1) - Criterion(C2) -
7. Estonia 74 4 76.31 3 3.5
Corruption Level Prosperity Level
Data Data
8. France 69 4 76.26 3 3.5 Score Score
Range Range
9. Ireland 74 4 80.38 3 3.5 0-20 1 (very bad) 50-60 1 (very bad)
Luxembour
10. 80 4 80.95 3 3.5 21-40 2 61-70 2
g
11. Portugal 62 4 73.75 3 3.5 41-60 3 71-80 3
12. Spain 62 4 74.79 3 3.5 61-80 4 81-90 4
5 (very
13. Czechia 56 3 73.43 3 3 81-100 5 (very good) 91-100
good)
Table 2– Pre-Filter Data Range & Score
14. Italy 53 3 71.68 3 3

15. Malta 54 3 76.4 3 3

16. Slovenia 60 3 73.66 3 3
17. Bulgaria 43 3 64.08 2 2.5
18. Croatia 47 3 66.19 2 2.5
19. Cyprus 58 3 69.99 2 2.5
20. Greece 48 3 66.51 2 2.5
21. Hungary 44 3 65.93 2 2.5
22. Latvia 56 3 69.94 2 2.5
23. Lithuania 60 3 70.16 2 2.5
24. Poland 58 3 69.3 2 2.5

25. Slovakia 50 3 70.25 2 2.5

Table 1- Pre-Filter Rough Data & Score

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The most attractive fish market in the EU

 Results
Thus, considering that the countries scoring the highest on CPI are the less corrupt (see C1),
and the highest on the prosperity level the most prosperous, there is an obvious gap between
northern/western European and the south/eastern European countries. Summing up these
criteria, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Sweden are the less corrupt and, therefore, more
trustworthy, and the most thriving.

To conclude this step, combining both indicators, there is a clear top twelve of EU member
states. The thirteen states with worse performance are eliminated from being advised as the
best market, and the twelve with best performance will continue being evaluated containing still
the chance to be claimed the most attractive market.

2. Macro-filters
The finished pre-filter phase gave a narrower selection of potential export countries for frozen
fish products of EFT. The 12 remaining EU countries will be running through four chosen macro-
filters, to specify and to narrow down the possible countries even more to the next step. The use
of a demographic, an economic and a social-cultural criterion was a must as following the
instructions of the module book. Therefore, different indicators such as the total population, the
income per capita and the proficiency in English language were taken into consideration. The
4th chosen criteria was the level of globalization in the respective countries.

 Denmark  Estonia
 Finland  France

 Germany  Ireland
 Sweden  Luxembourg

 Austria  Portugal
 Belgium  Spain

 Total Population
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

For an export market, the total population of the respective country is fundamental on aiming a
prosperous business in within the country. Consequently, the more numerous the population is,
bigger will be the expected demand for a certain product, whereas for a small population, a less
quantity of product will be demanded to feed the population. In addition, to earn and convince
new customers and to compete with already existing brands, a certain size of population is not
just useful but needed. Therefore, this criterion is corresponding to a medium weighted with
26.5%. The data about the total population of each country is retrieved from a Eurostat report
(Eurostat, 2020), and it is displayed on the table 3 as criterion C3.

 Income Per Capita

Fish is an expensive product, and its purchase is expected to be more expensive than other
common food products. Consequently, a country with a wealthier stabilized population, that is
able to afford higher goods and products than otherwise. Since it is required a higher GDP per
capita for a prosperous high number of product sold, this filter is weighed with 26.5%. The
statistics on the income per capita for each country is the criterion C4 on the table 3, and it is
provided from the Trading Economics (Trading Economics, 2019).

 Proficiency in English
Communication is crucial to maintain a successful relation and comprehension in business,
especially in international business. As the proficiency in Dutch language throughout Europe
nearly 0 (in exception to Flanders region), the research made use of this criteria in a certain
percentage. English is the official lingua franca, and, therefore, it is the language required for
international communication. However, as communication can be eased with intermediate of
translators and other external methods, it is solely given a weight of 17,5% to this criterion. The
company Education First provides a study on the proficiency in English of nearly every country,
and it is this data used on this paper (Education First, 2020) explained on table 3, under
criterion C5.

 Globalization Level
The Globalization level is the criterion number 6 (C6) and, as stated by Fredrik Erixon, it eases
and makes possible for new companies (and international) to compete with old, well stablished,
companies (Erixon, 2018). Furthermore, it provides a measure on the acceptance or openness
opposite new cultures, new markets and to the process of international network stablished by
each country. Therefore, it is considered to have the heaviest indicator in this set of criteria,
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

weighting 29,5%. The statistics are provided by Statista, in order to get an insight through the
level of globalization in each country (Statista, 2020), and are listed on table 3.

MACRO-FILTER CRITERIA

Criterion 4
Criterion 3 (C3) Criterion 5 (C5) Criterion 6
European (C4) GDP
Ran Total Scor Score English Scor (C6) Scor Averag
Union per capita
k Population e C3 C4 Proficiency e C5 Globalization e C6 e Score
Countries Weight
Weight 26.5% Weight 17.5% Weight 29.5%
26.5%
1 Sweden 10,327.60 4 53,205 3 625 4 89,93 5 4.03
2 Germany 83,166.70 5 53,815 3 616 4 88,6 4 4
3 Belgium 11,549.10 4 51,708 3 612 3 90,59 5 3.855
4 Austria 8,901.10 3 56,352 3 623 4 88,95 4 3.47
5 Denmark 5,822.80 3 56,352 3 632 5 88,26 3 3.35
6 France 67,098.80 5 46,184 2 559 2 87,25 3 3.09
7 Finland 5,525.30 3 48,621 2 631 5 87,7 3 3.085
8 Ireland 4,963.80 2 86,781 4 MAX 5 84,47 1 2.76
9 Spain 47,330 5 40,883 2 537 1 85,7 2 2.62
10 Luxembourg 626.1 1 114,482 5 610 3 83,6 1 2.41
11 Portugal 10,295.90 4 34,798 1 618 4 84,72 1 2.32
12 Estonia 1,329 2 36,710 1 566 2 83,77 1 1.44
Table 3- Macro-Filter Rough Data & Score

Score Translation Table

Criterion (C5) - English

Criterion (C3) - Total Population Criterion (C4) - Income per Capita Criterion (C6) - Globalization
Proficiency
Data Range Score Data Range Score Data Range Score Data Range Score

<999 1 (very bad) <39,999 1 (very bad) <549 1 (very bad) <84,99 1 (very bad)

1.000-4.999 2 40,000-49,999 2 550-599 2 85-86.99 2

5.000-9.999 3 50,000-69,999 3 600-614 3 87-88,49 3

10.000-24.999 4 70,000-89,999 4 615-629 4 88,50-89,99 4

>25000 5 (very good) >90.000 5 (very good) >630 5 (very good) >90 5 (very good)
Table 4- Macro-Filter Data Range & Score

 Results

Analysing the rough data, while Germany has by far the highest population with 83,166.700
million inhabitants followed by France with 67,098.800 million inhabitants however, both
countries are far behind in Income per Capita, in the proficiency of the English language and the
Globalization Level. On another hand, Luxembourg has only 626.100 inhabitants, although
leads the Income per Capita list by far with $114.482, Ireland takes the second place with nearly
$30.000 Income per Capita less, namely $86.781.

Ireland as an English native speaker country has the maximum in the proficiency of the English
language criteria, added with the high Income per Capita, it gets well presented in this list. At
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

the Globalization Level, Belgium is the only one under the twelve countries, which passes the
90 percent mark, followed by Sweden with 89,93 percent, Austria with 88,95 percent and
Germany with 88,6 percent.

After running the twelve countries through the four chosen filters and evaluate each criterion for
each country and rank on table 4, the Top 3 is known. Sweden leads the macro-filter table with
4.03 points, Germany just behind with 4 points. On the third place stands Belgium with 3.855
points as final result. Therefore, Sweden, Germany and Belgium will be used for further
research, and undergo through the chosen micro-filters, to figure out which one of those three
countries is the most suitable for an export-market of EFT.

3. Micro-Filter
The potential sales markets have been now reduced to 3 as a result of macro-filters. Sweden,
Germany and Belgium are the final best performing markets to be analyzed over micro-filters
criteria, in order to get the most attractive market. The purpose of the micro-filter is to study in-
depth the market, evaluating the size and potential growth of the fish market. Therefore, it will
be taken in consideration the level of fish consumption per inhabitant and the competition in the
market. To measure the level of competition in the market, this research will analyze the capture
of fish and the production in aquaculture.

 Fish Capture and Aquaculture Production

The production of fish will determinate the expected competition on EFT fish products. Either
catching fish in the sea or ocean or breeding and rearing fish with aquaculture, the bigger the
number of fish produced, the bigger will be the competition. Therefore, this criterion is expected
to find which country produces the less fish, representing a smaller level of competition. It can
be observed on table 5 and its data is retrieved from the European Market Observatory for
Fisheries and Aquaculture Products. Although the market competition is important for the
business, this criterion (C7) is considered to be less relevant than the consumption of fish and,
thus, is designated with a lighter weight within the micro-filters with 40%, observable on table 5.

 Fish Consumption
Fish consumption is probably the most important indicator as, in the end, it is the actual purpose
of EFT business on fish export and, therefore, has the heaviest weight (60%). A country with a
low level of fish consumption means a small market target, and vice-versa. Therefore, a country
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

with a higher consumption of fish per capita is the ideal to export. Thus, this research expects to
detect the country with higher level of fish consumption combined with lower numbers on fish
production. Since this is the main motivation and aim of the business, to supply fish for
consumption, this criterion will be accounted a heavier weight as visible on table 5, with 60% of
the portion for the final decision.

Micro-Filter Table
Criterion 7 (C7) - Fish Criterion 8 (C8) - Fish
Rankin European Union Scor Scor Averag
Consumption Production
g Countries e C7 e C8 e Score
Weight 60% Weight 40%
3 Belgium 23.8 kg/c/y 4 23,116 ton 5 4.4

1 Sweden 26.6 kg/c/y 5 233,334 ton 2 3.8

2 Germany 13.4 kg/c/y 2 313,409 ton 1 1.6

Table 5- Micro-Filter Rough Data & Score

Score Translation Table

Criterion (C1) - Corruption Level Criterion 2 - Prosperity Level

Data Range Score Data Range Score

<6.99 1 (very bad) 275,000-350,000 1 (very bad)

7-13.99 2 200,000-274,999 2

14-19.99 3 125,000-199,999 3

20-25.99 4 50,000-124,999 4

26-30 5 (very good) <49,999 5 (very good)

Table 6- Micro-Filter Data Range & Score

 Results
According to the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products,
regarding the last 3 countries in the study, Sweden is the biggest consumer of fish with 26.6kg
per capita per year, followed by Belgium with 23.8 kg/c/y and, lastly, Germany consuming solely
13.4 kg/c/y (EUMOFA, 2019, p. 31). As reported by the Food and Agricultural Organization of
the United Nations, Belgium highlights as the country with a minimum production of fish with just
23,116 tons, whilst Sweden produces 233,334 tons and Germany 313,409 tons (FAO, 2020).

The compound of both indicators ends the study, with the conclusion that, scoring 4.4, Belgium
is the best performing country and the most attractive export fish market, followed by Sweden
(3.8) and finally Germany (1.6).

Discussion
To begin with, the pre-filter is a broad filtering of the entire EU member states (excluding,
obviously, the Netherlands) in terms of international market. Thus, this research has examined
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

the level of corruption and the level of prosperity in each country, as it translates in the most
trustworthy countries and with a higher growth and bigger opportunity for business. It has
concluded that the 12 EU countries with best performance in the preceding criteria is Denmark,
Finland, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal
and Spain, and will be the group of countries in observation in the macro-filter.

Secondly, the macro-filter is a compound of 4 factors external to the company, unrelated to the
business itself, and thus unreachable to the control of the company. Hence, in this step is
expected to find out the countries with a bigger population with a higher GDP per capita,
capable of affording such an expensive product as it is fish, owning each 26,5% of the weight in
this phase. Furthermore, it is intended to filter the countries with the higher level of globalization,
and openness to a global network, as a mandatory factor to achieve success in international
business, and thus weighting up 29,5%. Lastly, with a lighter weight (17,5%), it is assessed the
countries with higher level of proficiency in English, providing better means for communication.
It was demanded to reach the number of solely 3 countries to have on study for the last group of
filters. Therefore, Sweden, Germany and Belgium are the countries demonstrating best
performance and being analyzed in the micro-filters.

Finally, the micro-filters will study thoroughly factors that are correlated with the fish industry and
market. Since ETF is concerned with the dimension and growth of the fish market, the study has
filtered the countries with a higher consumption with a less production of fish. As a consequence
of believing that fish consumption is intrinsic in society for either, as for instance, a cultural,
social, religious, it represents a lower chance of a drastically alteration and, therefore, is
considered to have a heaviest weight (60%) than the production of fish (40%). In the end of this
step, Belgium has proven to have the most attracting fish market.

Conclusion
This case study was designed to examine an economic issue for the Dutch company European
Food Trading (EFT). During the financial crisis EFT became aware of both the limited number of
customers as well as the narrow product range. These problems led the company to the plan of
producing and exporting fish within EU member states. The plan to produce and export a new
product is a risk for a company, therefore it had to be thoroughly investigated whether this was a
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

profitable idea. EFT asked SimSamBruh Consultancy the following question: ‘What are the most
attractive export markets for frozen fish products in the EU?’
To research whether there might were new attractive markets in the EU, there was made a list
of EU member states. The list of countries underwent three narrowing filters: a Pre-filter, a
Macro-filter and a Micro-filter. Each filter focused on the advantages and disadvantages of
export to a country. Every round the filter eliminated the least attractive countries resulting in a
top 3 member states to export fish to.

After examining the list of EU member states through the three filters, it can be concluded that
Belgium is the best performing country in the compound of the criteria. This country bordering
the south of the Netherlands has got a good average of prosperity, with a small percentage of
corruption. Moreover, it is a medium sized country in terms of population, with a good income
and with high levels of openness to international cultures and business, translated in a high
proficiency in English. Although its consumption of fish it is just around to the average of the EU,
its production of fish is limited, highlighting in the final filters. To sum up, Belgium is the most
attractive export market for frozen fish in the EU.
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

List of References
Amadeo, K. (2020, April 16). Lehman Brothers Collapse: How It Affects You Today.
Retrieved from The Balance: https://www.thebalance.com/lehman-brothers-
collapse-causes-impact-4842338
Šubonis, T. (2017, November 30). What makes a country prosperous? Retrieved from
Towards Data Science: https://towardsdatascience.com/what-makes-a-country-
prosperous-7cc213974bac
Education First. (2020). EF English Proficiency Index. Retrieved November 2020, from
www.ef.com: https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/
Erixon, F. (2018, January). The Economic Benefits of Globalization for Business and
Consumers. Retrieved from European Centre for International Political Economy:
https://ecipe.org/publications/the-economic-benefits-of-globalization-for-business-
and-consumers/
EUMOFA. (2019). The EU Fish Market 2019 Edition. Luxembourg: Publications Office
of the European Union.
European Union. (2020). Countries. Retrieved from Europa.eu:
https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries_en#the-27-member-
countries-of-the-eu
Eurostat. (2020, July 10). First population estimates EU population in 2020: almost 448
million More deaths than births. Retrieved November 2020, from ec.europa.eu:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/11081093/3-10072020-AP-
EN.pdf/d2f799bf-4412-05cc-a357-7b49b93615f1
FAO. (2020). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved from
Fishery and Aquaculture Country Profiles:
http://www.fao.org/fishery/countryprofiles/search/en
Kelly, M. B. (2014, December 3). The 17 Most Corrupt Countries In The World.
Retrieved from Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/most-corrupt-
countries-in-the-world-2014-12
Legatum Institute. (2020). The Legatum Prosperity Index™ 2020. Retrieved November
2020, from www.prosperity.com: https://www.prosperity.com/rankings
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

Silver, C. (2020, Março 18). The Top 20 Economies in the World. Retrieved from
Investopedia: https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/
Statista. (2020, December 1). Top 50 countries in the Globalization Index 2019.
Retrieved December 2020, from www.statista.com:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/268168/globalization-index-by-country/
#:~:text=The%20KOF%20Index%20of%20Globalization,economic%2C
%20social%2C%20and%20political
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The most attractive fish market in the EU

Trading Economics. (2019, December). GDP per capita PPP | Europe. Retrieved
November 2020, from www.tradingeconomics.com:
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/gdp-per-capita-ppp?continent=europe
Transparency International. (2019). Corruption Perception Index. Retrieved November
2020, from www.transparency.org:
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2019/results