Smoked salmon scarce

A fire at New Zealand King Salmon in Tahunanui on Friday night would cause some minor product shortages for about a month, says chief executive Grant Rosewarne, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to Nelson Mail.

Mr Rosewarne said the fire, in the smallest of the company's four factories, had badly damaged one kiln used for hot-smoking salmon, and slightly damaged another.

Production will be switched to the main factory in Bullen St while repairs are made.

Mr Rosewarne said the Rotherham St factory produced "our high-end hot-smoked product".

"We were pretty much at capacity. We'll be short of certain products over the next month or so."

He believed the fire began after some of the resins and oils from the smoking process got into wall insulation and then caught fire.

"These things happen and under the circumstances we're pretty thankful we've got out of it without anybody hurt, and everyone's followed the procedure."

The damaged factory accounted for just 3 per cent of the company's production and there would be no effect on jobs, he said.

Next week Mr Rosewarne leaves on a trip to Europe and Britain as part of a group including Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley.

They will be looking at the salmon and seafood industry in Norway and Scotland, and attending the European Seafood Exposition, in Brussels.