, is a marine products company based in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Formerly known as from 31 March 1937 to 30 November 2022, it officially changed its name to its common abbreviation on 1 December 2022. The company was established as the fishery division of Tamura Steamship Company in March 1911 by Ichiro Tamura ( 田村市郎), a cousin of the head of the Fujita Zaibatsu (''

zaibatsu is a Japanese language, Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertical integration, vertically integrated business conglomerate (company), conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over signifi ...

'' were large conglomerates in pre-war Japan). Its former headquarters, built in Tobata (

Kita Kyushu is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fukuoka. It is one o ...

) in 1929, is now an exhibit center. It has been listed on the Tokyo Exchange since 16 May 1949, when Japan's stock market was resumed after the Second World War (). It is the only component of the Nikkei 225 index from the country's fishery sector. With 768 billion yen annual sales in FY2022, it is now the second largest commercial

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and marine product procurement corporation in the country by revenue, only surpassed by the Maruha Nichiro Holdings. Its founding principles state 'A tap water supply system is exactly what marine products should be like in their production and distribution'. In 2005, the company divested its whaling fleet following controversy for its role in the modern global whaling industry (see ''

Whaling in Japan Japanese whaling, in terms of active hunting of whales, is estimated by the Japan Whaling Association to have begun around the 12th century. However, Japanese whaling on an industrial scale began around the 1890s when Japan started to participat ...

''). As of 2013, the company has 61

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

and 44 associated companies across

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Overview

In FY2022, Nissui had 9515 employees and a total net asset of 220.6 billion Yen. As of 10 February 2023, its market capitalisation is 283 billion Yen. Nissui's CEO is Shogo Hamada, who has a degree of

fisheries science Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws on the disciplines of limnology, oceanography, freshwater biology, marine biology, meteorology, conservation, ...

from the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

and has been working for the company since 1983. After

exclusive economic zones An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including e ...

(EEZ) were introduced by the 1982

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 169 sov ...

, Nissui's traditional business model of pelagic fisheries collapsed, as most of

continental shelves A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

, where Nissui's ships used to fish, was now to be controlled by other countries. No longer running a profitable business, Nissui found itself unable to allocate any of its profit to dividends for the first time in its history as a publicly traded company in 1991. This business downturn became an impetus for the company to change its business model, and during the 1990s it invested heavily in aquaculture of salmon by its Chilean subsidiary Emdepes, extraction of Eicosapentaenoic acid from fish for pharmaceutical use, and production of frozen food. It also started to diversify the sources of fish supply by establishing and acquiring subsidiaries around the world. These efforts gradually proved successful, and its main sources of revenue are now its traditional fishery&marine products business, and the fine chemical and processed food divisions. Today, its subsidiaries across the world not only contribute to the stabilisation of Nissui's supply chain as originally intended but also sell products that cater to the needs of each country. Its US subsidiary

Gorton's of Gloucester Gorton's of Gloucester is a subsidiary of Japanese seafood conglomerate Nissui, producing fishsticks and other frozen seafood for the retail market in the United States. Gorton's also has a North American food service business which sells to fast ...

is the top supplier of frozen marine products, and supplies hamburgers to

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

. Its New Zealand subsidiary Sealord is the largest supplier of fried fish and one of the largest food companies in the country. Its French subsidiary Cité Marine holds a similar position in the French frozen food market. Nissui has been working to make land-based

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

commercially viable. Nissui's current aquaculture business, mainly

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

and

Japanese amberjack The Japanese amberjack or yellowtail, ''Seriola quinqueradiata'', is a species of Amberjack, jack bony fish, fish in the family Carangidae, native to the northwest Pacific Ocean. It is known as ''shiyu'' () in China, ''bang'eo'' () in Korea, and ...

, is mostly conducted in the traditional way of ocean-based aquaculture, meaning they keep fish in segregated areas of harbours or in tanks that are connected to ocean. However, keeping fish in ocean water means they are prone to get diseases or affected by natural conditions, which sometimes result in worst scenarios such as annihilation. This method also has a large impact on the ecosystem that share the water. Thus, from both the perspectives of business stability and environmental friendliness, land-based aquaculture is more desirable. In April 2023, as Nissui's first land-based commercial aquaculture project, a

whiteleg shrimp Whiteleg shrimp (''Litopenaeus vannamei'', synonym ''Penaeus vannamei''), also known as Pacific white shrimp or King prawn, is a species of prawn of the eastern Pacific Ocean commonly caught or farmed for food. Description ''Litopenaeus vannam ...

farm started operations in

Ei, Kagoshima was a List of towns in Japan, town located in Ibusuki District, Kagoshima, Ibusuki District, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 14,396 and the population density, density of 130.50 persons per km2. The ...

. A

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

farm is also planned to start commercial operations in 2026.

History

* 1908 – Founder Ichiro Tamura constructed Daiichi-Maru (199 gross tons), the first steel-frame trawler in Japan * 1911 – Ichiro Tamura established the Tamura Steamship Fishery Division in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and started trawling in cooperation with Kosuke Kunishi and other people (foundation of Nippon Suisan) * 1920 – Hayatomo Fishery Research Group, the first private fishery research organization in Japan, was established * 1929 – The base of fishery moved from Shimonoseki to Tobata,

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...

* 1934 – First whaling expedition conducted in the

Antarctic Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

* 1937 – Company name changed to Nippon Suisan * 1946 – First postwar whaling expedition conducted in the Antarctic Ocean with permission of the

General Headquarters The General Headquarters (abbreviated Army GHQ) is the direct reporting and the command post of the Pakistan Army, located in the Chaklala at the vicinity of Rawalpindi, adjacent to the Joint Staff Headquarters (JS HQ). History In 1851, th ...

(GHQ) * 1949 – Nippon Suisan listed its shares on the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. The exchange is owned by Japan Exchange Group (JPX), a holding company that it also lists (), and operated by Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc., a wholly owned sub ...

* 1952 –

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

fisheries reopened and NISSUI's mother ship-type

and

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

fleet began fishing. * 1966 – Head office moved to the present address (Nippon Building in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) * 1974 – Unisea founded in the U.S * 1978 – EMDEPES founded in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, as a fishery base * 1988 – NISSUI acquired Salmones Antartica, a salmon and trout aquaculture company in Chile * 1990 – NISSUI obtained approval to make "EPA-E NISSUI," a drug substance * 1995 – involved in financing a management-buyout of ANZCO Foods (just over 25% shareholding; minor partner to Itoham Foods), a meat producer in

* 2001 – Acquired 50% of shares of Sealord, a fishery company in New Zealand :::Acquired from

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

Gorton's and Blue Water, pre-cooked frozen seafood brands for household use in North America * 2002 – Acquired 25% of shares of Alaska Ocean Seafood * 2004 – Founded NAL Peru, a procurement company specializing in fish meat and fish oil, in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

:::Founded Europacifico, a marketer of marine products, in

Vigo Vigo (, ; ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

* 2005 – Acquired King & Prince Seafood, a U.S. company of pre-cooked frozen seafood for business use * 2006 – Acquired three marketers of marine products: Nordic Seafood in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, F.W. Bryce in the U.S. and Nordsee in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

* 2007 – Acquired shares of Cité Marine S.A.S., a processed

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

company in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

:::DOSA was established in Chile in order to administrating, marketing, and distributing for group fishery companies in Chile * 2008 – Qingdao Nissui Food Research and Development founded :::Acquired 25% of shares of Glacier Fish Company :::Hokkaido Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd. founded * 2009 – TN Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd. founded :::Acquired Hokkaido Fine Chemicals Co from Nikkashi * 2010 – Acquired shares of Delmar :::Nordic Seafood A/S becomes consolidated subsidiary * 2011 – Opening The Nissui Pioneer Exhibition Center *2012 – The Medium-Term Management Plan 2014(MVIP) was initiated. *2013 – "Yumigahama Suisan Co., Ltd" was established for domestic Coho Salmon farming. *2014 – Head office moved to Nishi-Shimbashi Square in Minato-ku, Tokyo. * 2015 – Nissui sells part of its shareholding in ANZCO Foods to Itoham Foods * 2018 – Nissui sells remaining part of its shareholding in ANZCO Foods to Itoham Foods * 2019 – Acquired 75% of shares of Flatfish Ltd * 2023 – Invested in first startup, Australian Asparagopsis producer, Immersion Group.

References

External links

Company website

{{Authority control Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Companies in the Nikkei 225 Food and drink companies based in Tokyo Food and drink companies established in 1911 Fuyo Group Japanese companies established in 1911 Whaling firms Minato, Tokyo

Overview

History

See also

References

External links