Albanian Anchovy Sales Boom As Lockdowns Promote Tinned Food
Umer Jamshaid Published April 03, 2020 | 06:07 PM
Businesses worldwide have gone dark under coronavirus shutdowns, but in Albania, the anchovy trade is booming as demand for the tinned delicacy surges among European households
Durrs, Albania, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Apr, 2020 ) :Businesses worldwide have gone dark under coronavirus shutdowns, but in Albania, the anchovy trade is booming as demand for the tinned delicacy surges among European households.
In the port of Durres, on Albania's Adriatic coast, around 50 women covered from head to toe in face masks, gloves and purple coats pack the salted fish for shipment to Italy and Spain, the countries hardest-hit by COVID-19.
Working swiftly and meticulously, they wash cured anchovies, dry them and remove bones from fillets that then go into tins or vacuum-packed sleeves.
The Nettuno factory has been forced to reduce staff to respect social distancing measures in Albania, which has been under lockdown for weeks in hopes stemming the number of COVID-19 deaths, which now stand at 16.
And yet the factory is trying to ramp up output to meet demand for the canned fish among Europeans hunkered down under coronavirus quarantines.
Before the pandemic, the factory exported more than 25,000 kilos of canned anchovies per month to Italy and Spain.
Today, orders are up 30 percent to "34,000 kilos per month," said Orlando Salvatore, the Italian owner of Nettuno, one of a dozen companies in the sector.
He says the craze is driven by Italian and Spanish families using pantry items to spice up home cooking.
"The anchovy has gained even more value because people who are in confinement are making pizza at home, which has greatly increased sales," he said.
- Paid by the kilo - Salvatore says he plans to open in May another factory in Albania -- the third biggest anchovies exporter to the EU last year -- that will double production.
The fish they are processing now were caught in 2019.
This year's fishing season starts in April, and is likely to be disrupted by coronavirus restrictions.
In the meantime, factory staff are tired but relieved to still have jobs when many others are losing income.
Roughly 30,000 companies have been forced to close in the poor Balkan state due to coronavirus measures, and many families don't have savings to live on.
"We are happy that the anchovies we produce here go to Europe, to Spain, to France, and that sales are good despite this difficult period," says Landa Tabaku, a worker in her forties.
Anchovy processors are paid 1.5 Euros ($1.62) for each kilo they package.
For Tabaku, that comes to about 30 euros a day.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Dubai Police Marks International Workers' Day with 'Talabat' Riders
Sharjah Ruler inaugurates 15th annual Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival
Parineeti Chopra opens up about her decision to marry politician Raghav Chadha
PCB decides to set up training camp for national team ahead of England, Ireland ..
Virat Kohli's sweet birthday wish for Anushka Sharma
Interior Minister commends Pakistan Coast Guards
Pakistan women’s squad announced for England tour
Punjab CM Maryam inaugurates initiative of field hospitals
PM Shehbaz constitutes committee to investigate caretaker govt’s wheat import ..
Women T20I: Pakistan to face West Indies in fourth match tomorrow
Pak-UK 6th Regional Stabilization Conference underway at NDU, Islamabad
World Labor Day being observed today
More Stories From World
-
Football: South African Premiership results
2 hours ago -
Football: South African Premiership table
2 hours ago -
Tennis: ATP/WTA Madrid Open results - 2nd update
2 hours ago -
Thirty years on, Brazil pays tribute to late F1 hero Senna
3 hours ago -
France among Euro 'favourites' but in 'tough group', Deschamps tells AFP
3 hours ago -
Alcaraz crashes, Sinner hobbles out of Madrid
3 hours ago
-
Floods strand dozens of tourists in Kenya's Maasai Mara
4 hours ago -
Colombia to cut diplomatic ties with Israel
4 hours ago -
Rublev sends two-time defending champion Alcaraz crashing in Madrid
4 hours ago -
Police tackle US campus protests as Los Angeles hit by clashes
4 hours ago -
Thousands rally in Georgia as 'foreign influence' bill advances
4 hours ago -
UK confirms first migrants held for Rwanda deportation flights
5 hours ago