Canneries & Makers

The Perafita (Matosinhos) cannery behind José Gourmet, which packs a whole cluster of design-led Portuguese sardine brands — its own portfolio plus contract labels.

Sardine cannery inaugurated in January 2023 by President Ghazouani — the first canned-sardine production in Mauritania in over five decades. Roughly $15M (570M ouguiya) investment with around 300 jobs; stated capacity of up to 100,000 cans/day plus 110 t/day freezing and 4,000 t storage. The inauguration was covered by two independent outlets, but production status since 2023 is unverified.

A historic northern-Portuguese cannery that packs the Minerva and Santo Amaro sardine brands.

A Moroccan sardine-canning facility in the Agadir area that packs the Belma and Armorial brands and runs contract production for several export labels.

North Sea coast site of Appel Feinkost, the German producer canning true Sardina pilchardus from West African waters.

Ayam Brand's sardine cannery at Taiping, Perak, operating since 1975 and claimed to be the largest sardine cannery in Southeast Asia, canning imported frozen cold-water pilchards.

The Connors Bros. cannery at Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick — historically billed as one of the world's largest sardine canneries and widely described as the last remaining sardine cannery in North America. Home of the Brunswick brand.

Century Pacific Food's Zamboanga sardine-canning platform, the shared production base behind its 555, Blue Bay, Fresca, Lucky 7 and Ligo sardine brands.

A Safi-based Moroccan sardine manufacturer connected to the Unimer group, packing its own Festoy and Fanion labels.

A fifth-generation Galician cannery in Vilanova de Arousa; the named producer behind Patagonia Provisions' sardines.

The Vigo, Galicia cannery behind the Pay Pay brand, packing sardines and other conservas on the Rías Baixas.

A fifth-generation Andalusian cannery on the Guadiana at Ayamonte, maker of the Lola sardine brand.

The Matosinhos cannery, founded in 1920, that hand-packs both the export-labelled Nuri and the domestic Pinhais tins using the same pre-cook-then-hand-pack method.

A Moroccan sardine manufacturer that packs Isabel's Moroccan-sourced SKUs alongside its own Rex and Nixe labels and private-label export work.

The GCC's only verified operating consumer sardine cannery, a 34,000 square metre plant at Raysut, Salalah with sardine capacity of 27 million cans a year alongside tuna, fishmeal and fish oil lines.

One of the two canneries still operating in Walvis Bay after the collapse of Namibia's pilchard fishery — surviving on imported frozen pilchards and locally caught horse mackerel. Home of the EFUTA brand and Namibia's first commercial canner of local horse mackerel; also contract-cans Lucky Star for Oceana. Around 30,000 tonnes of frozen pilchard imported since 2010 to sustain roughly 650 seasonal jobs.

The Gomes da Costa processing complex at Itajaí, Santa Catarina — billed as Latin America's largest sardine and tuna processing complex, exporting to around 68 nations.

Regional artisan cannery in Ishinomaki, Miyagi, canning fresh-pack (never frozen) local ma-iwashi and the famous 金華さば line; site of the 2011 tsunami 'rescued cans' story.

Family-run cannery at Stavrochori, Kilkis (not Kavala) producing both of Konva's supermarket canned-fish brands, Trata and Flokos; ISO, BRC, IFS and FDA certified.

Oceana Group's second Lucky Star cannery on the Western Cape coast. Received a R10m upgrade in 2016 to handle imported frozen fish as local pilchard quotas fell short of demand.

Oceana Group's principal Lucky Star cannery on the West Coast. Processes both the local Sardinops sagax catch and the imported frozen pilchards that now make up the majority of raw material — the 2016 Morocco and Thailand imports were processed here, and the 2025-26 cannery consolidation moved Amawandle staff to this plant.

King Cup's cannery in Pasir Gudang, Johor, packing about 4,500 tonnes a year of frozen fish imported from Mexico and South Africa.

A Safi-based Moroccan cannery associated with the Sabri sardine label; the brand-ownership relationship is unconfirmed and evidence conflicts over time.

A sardine processor and exporter on Morocco's far-southern Atlantic coast, packing a family of its own labels for export markets.

Pioneer Fishing's cannery at St Helena Bay, home of the Glenryck brand since African Pioneer Marine acquired it from Bidvest Namibia in September 2020 and integrated the brand with Pioneer Fishing's raw material supply.

Rügen Fisch group site near Rostock producing the Ostsee Fisch smoked Sprotten line.

New Walvis Bay cannery commissioned around 2022 by Princess Brand Processing, the company rebranded from Seaflower Pelagic Processing in January 2022. Cans horse mackerel under the revived Princess name, with capacity for roughly 450 jobs; the MD says it could run at capacity within 45 days if given a pilchard quota. Company background details are single-sourced to New Era.

A Dakhla-area sardine processing and exporting operation on Morocco's southern Atlantic coast.

Royal Foods' 2013 plant in Nghệ An, built for about 19.3 million US dollars with capacity up to 100 tonnes a day of sardines and mackerel, which also OEM-packs Japanese Nissui saba and iwashi brands.

Baltic-coast plant on Rügen Island canning herring and sprat since 1949, now the production home of both RügenFisch and Hawesta.

The Postira cannery on the island of Brač, Croatia's largest fish processor, which packs the Adriatic Queen sardine brand from Adriatic-caught fish.

Family cannery operating in Chōshi, Japan's biggest sardine port, for over 110 years — packing Chōshi-landed iwashi including a fresh never-frozen (生原料) line.

Family canning operation at Hasaki, Kamisu (Ibaraki), across the river from Chōshi, packing the 寒いわし winter-sardine series from winter-caught local iwashi — production suspended January 2026.

Heritage artisan cannery on Miyazu Bay (Sea of Japan) hand-packing the 天の橋立 series, including its label-confirmed ma-iwashi oil sardine, since 1908.

Chōshi plant of Tawara Kanzume (est. 1929), where the ちょうした iwashi kabayaki is handmade and far-infrared roasted before canning.

Universal Canning's Zamboanga facility, the shared production base behind the Family's Brand, Master, Atami and Mikado sardine labels.

The St Helena Bay cannery behind the Saldanha brand, which also packs private-label pilchards for major South African retailers and runs a fishmeal and fish-oil plant. In February 2020 an NRCS-ordered national recall over a canning deficiency hit West Point-packed pilchards across Saldanha and multiple house brands.