JACKSON - One of the nation's largest catfish processors will use the bulk of a $9.75 million USDA Rural Development loan to fund an extensive overhaul of its Indianola plant that will significantly increase production.
Delta Pride Catfish Inc. will buy new processing and freezing equipment next month that also will reduce costs, said president and chief executive Bill Allen.
"Our goal is to make Delta Pride not only the largest and fastest-growing catfish processor, but also the most efficient," Allen said. "Our processing costs have been on the high side compared to our competitors."
Delta Pride has processed an average of 80 to 100 million pounds of catfish annually over the past five years, placing them near the top of the industry, Allen said.
Nationwide, companies processed about 600 million pounds last year, he said.
Delta Pride is a cooperative owned by 111 catfish farmers who produce more than 200 million tons of live catfish each year. Most of the ponds are in the Mississippi Delta.
Allen said renovations will begin next month, and most of the job should be finished early next year.
The new equipment will include state-of-the-art mechanical de-heading and filleting machines that will increase yield, ergonomically improved trim tables and new freezer technology.
Once the new equipment is in use, the company immediately will increase its processing capacity by 30 percent, Allen said. Depending on demand, Delta Pride could eventually double its capacity, he said.
Stuart Dean, an industrial engineer with the Mississippi State Cooperative Extension Service, said the improvements are important because some of the state's other large processors, such as Confish Inc. in Isola and Heartland Catfish in Itta Bena, already have made large technological investments.
Dean said advancements in the past decade have allowed some companies to process the same amount of fish with half the people.
"That's the effort - trying to increase the yield from each fish and reduce labor costs," he said.
Delta Pride employs 600 people, mostly fish trimmers.
Allen said the company will need 80 to 100 fewer workers with the new equipment. However, depending on demand, the company may add a new shift and create 500 jobs.
Delta Pride's customers are primarily retail grocery chains, food service distribution companies and large club stores.
Allen said the biggest concern for him and others in the business is the influx of lower-quality Vietnamese fish into U.S. markets.
U.S. catfish producers have accused Vietnamese exporters of infringing on their copyrights and dumping cheaper fish in the United States, taking as much as 10 percent of their business.
Last month, Gov. Ronnie Musgrove said he might call a special legislative session to help Mississippi catfish farmers.
Musgrove said he met with farmers who want labeling restrictions to differentiate their fish from the Vietnamese product. No date has been announced.
Congressmen from Mississippi and Arkansas are pushing to require country-of-origin labeling for packages of catfish sold in the United States.
Allen said the sale of lesser-quality Vietnamese fish is undermining the industry's multimillion-dollar public relations efforts in the past several years to promote U.S. farm-raised catfish.
"It's a much bigger deal than anyone realizes," he said.
"It's eroded prices terribly for farmers, and the taste is disappointing consumers who think they're eating real catfish."
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