Salted and Dried Fish for African and Caribbean Shops: Stockfish, Makayabu, Saithe, Pollock and Bakkeljauw

Here is the salt-fish set mapped to the customer who asks for it. Brand and trade names stay as the community uses them. The species column is the actual product underneath.

Two things to take from that table. Makayabu, Bakkeljauw and the bacalhau-adjacent salt fish are the same salted product wearing different labels, so one production line feeds three communities. The makayabu name carries a cod ambiguity on purpose: Belgian and French shops write it "makayabu ou morue" because morue means cod, and customers will take either the salted saithe or pollock or the salted cod under that name. Stockfish is the one that breaks the pattern. It is dried, not salted, so it lives on a dry shelf instead of the freezer, and it ships and stores differently.

Portugal flips the angle. Bacalhau is mainstream there, sold everywhere, so a Lusophone-African shop competes on the Cape Verdean and Angolan range next to it, not on the salt cod itself.

Saithe (Pollachius virens) and pollock (Pollachius pollachius, and in practice Alaska pollock too) are the two species behind most of the salted fish in this trade. Close cousins. Both white, both lean, both cure well with salt. For a shop the differences that matter are colour, price and what your regulars expect.

• Saithe runs a darker, greyer flesh raw and a fuller flavour once it is salted and soaked. It is the classic Bakkeljauw and makayabu fish. Surinamese and Congolese customers who grew up on it know the taste and the texture the moment they cook it.
• Pollock is paler and milder, and often a touch cheaper depending on the season. Good as a value line, and good for customers who want a lighter, cleaner salted fish.

Both sell as the same store SKUs: heel (whole), moten (steaks and pieces), filet, and split. Choosing between saithe and pollock comes down to your price point and what your area is used to. Not sure which one moves where you are? Order a small run of each and watch the freezer for a few weeks. We go deeper on the species split, soaking and yield in our salted saithe and pollock sourcing guide on this site, so this page stays on the stocking question.

Salt fish is graded, and the grade is the difference between a clean repeat customer and an argument at the counter. When you order, ask about three things.

• Salting method and salt content. Heavy-salted (dry-salted) fish keeps longer and travels well. Lightly-salted needs a tighter cold chain. The reference here is Codex Stan 167 for salted and dried salted fish, which sets the salt-in-water-phase ranges that mark a proper cure. You will never quote a standard to a customer at the counter, but a supplier who works to it ships product that behaves the same carton after carton.
• Grade. Salt fish is sorted on appearance and damage. Top grade is clean, well-shaped and pale. Lower grades carry more breakage, yellowing or discolouration. The higher grade sells at the counter as eating-quality. The lower grade is perfectly fine for customers who soak it and cook it down into a stew or a sauce. Decide which one your shop sells, then order to it.
• Moisture and cure consistency. A consistent cure means a consistent soaking time for your customer, which means consistent results. That is what brings them back next week.

We grade and salt to a fixed spec and hold it the same across orders. Our salt-fish grades explainer (Codex Stan 167) on this site walks the grade ladder if you want the full picture before you pick a line.

The same fish sells in different shapes depending on the customer and the kitchen. Stock the format your community reaches for at the counter.

Pack sizes run from the consumer shelf to the back of the shop:

You do not have to start with a pallet. Mix formats and pack sizes on one order, see what sells, then scale the line that moves.

Salt fish and stockfish are not the same logistics job. Heavy-salted fish and air-dried stockfish are stable and travel well. Lightly-salted product wants a tighter chill. We pack and ship each to suit: frozen where it needs to be frozen, ambient or chilled where it does not, so it arrives in a state you can put straight on the shelf.

Delivery is DAP, delivered at place. We arrange the transport and the export and customs paperwork. You take the goods at your shop or warehouse and handle the local unloading. For an EU shop that means no border friction. For a UK shop after Brexit it means the customs side is settled at our end under the DAP terms, so you are not standing up an import operation just to buy a few cartons of stockfish. We deliver across the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Stockfish wholesale into Europe and the UK usually runs through directory listings, Europages or Alibaba, rather than a named, EU-approved maker. Realistic low-MOQ for dried stockfish sits around 500kg, with samples typically out the door in 5 to 10 days. We are the maker, not a listing. NL208262EG and HACCP on file, one invoice, one delivery.

Tell us four things and we can quote: which fish (stockfish, makayabu, Bakkeljauw, salted saithe or pollock), the format (heel, moten, filet, split), the pack size, and your delivery address. We come back with price, lead time and the DAP quote to your country.

Stocking a full shop and not only fish? Our sister brand Ratouli Foods runs the broader African grocery stock list: frozen offal (shaki, abodi, ponmo, cow feet) and the Surinaamse worst family, on the same EU approval and the same DAP delivery. Plenty of shops take their salt fish from us and the rest of the freezer from Ratouli Foods on one relationship. Get in touch and we will open a wholesale account and get a sample order moving.

Updated June 2026.