Mark Godfrey is an Irish journalist covering the agriculture and fisheries sectors in Asia, with a focus on China. Proficient in Mandarin, he has frequently traveled across China's fisheries and aquaculture regions and learned the inner workings of China's corporate world during a nearly three-year stint at the Financial Times' “China Confidential” publication. He has also reported widely across Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union. He has educational certificates in agriculture and food science, as well as Mandarin.
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The Chinese province of Fujian has signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia which will see the two parties cooperate on mariculture and seafood processing goals.
The deal includes exporting aquaculture and processing technology developed in Fujian to the Southeast Asian nation, furthering Chinese ambitions to rival Norway as a provider of seafood technology to global markets.
Guangdong Evergreen Group CEO Chen Dan said in 2024 that
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Chinese seafood-processing firm Dalian Rich Enterprise Group has cited tariffs as the reason for further moving away from its reliance on the U.S. market, but, simultaneously, wants to maintain relationships with the American customer base and the U.S. brand the firm has built up over several decades.
“We hope we can continue selling our products to the U.S. market because we have established very good business relationships with our
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Chinese aquaculture company Yantai Jinghai Marine Fisheries Co. plans to harvest 2,000 metric tons (MT) of Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)-certified rainbow trout this year.
Of the 2,000-MT total, the company confirmed 1,500 MT will come from its mariculture platforms off the coast of Shandong province, and 500 MT will come from land-based recirculating aquaculture operations.
Yantai General Manager Guo Fuyuan said his company’s first
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According to a new report from the Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), an Irish agency tasked with growing the nation's seafood sector, the total value of the Irish aquaculture industry rose 25 percent in 2024 compared to the year prior.
The agency’s “Business of Seafood 2024” report highlighted that Irish aquaculture production was worth EUR 211 million (USD 241.5 million) last year, driven largely by a 51 percent increase in salmon
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Imported wild-caught seafood coming into China is taking market share from farmed seafood, according to Fan Xubing, the CEO of Beijing-based marketing agency Seabridge.
Pollock, redfish, mackerel, and Greenland halibut all have the potential to outperform farmed species like salmon in sales growth this year, Fan said.
“We researched a recent study and found that in 2023, China's total wild-caught seafood import value [was equivalent
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China is currently negotiating with the Gulf Cooperation Council – a political and economic alliance comprising Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman – and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – a similar alliance comprising Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam – to establish a three-way free trade agreement
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The Irish parliament has established a new committee focused on fisheries development, and the group has already called on the country to invest more in seafood processing while also cutting delays to its aquaculture licensing system.
“The [Irish] fishing sector has faced decades of neglect, mismanagement, underinvestment, and repeated policy failures that have held back – rather than supported – communities,” Committee
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Liancheng Ocean Fisheries Group, a Chinese tuna-fishing company based in the southeastern city of Shenzhen, has announced plans to build a new processing plant in an attempt to tap domestic demand for tuna.
Liancheng Ocean owns 72 longline fishing vessels, but also buys from 60 partner vessels, according to Dong Wenyan, the deputy general manager of the Liancheng Ocean Frozen Fleet. Wenyan further explained that the company sources tuna from the
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Fisheries inspectors in Spain recently agreed to a deal with the Spanish government to end a multi-month strike, ensuring that bluefin tuna fishers will benefit from their services in the upcoming high season.
Around 170 inspectors nationwide went on strike in early March seeking an increase in pay, among other demands, to reflect the long hours and hazardous environment required by their work.
"Inspectors are necessary when Spanish and other
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Even though the U.S. and China agreed to lower duties on each other’s goods for 90 days effective 14 May, Chinese tilapia producers and processors are pursuing several avenues in order to diversify their sales away from the U.S., trying to guard themselves against trade uncertainty.
One such path is to sell more to the domestic market, and the Chinese government has instituted initiatives to help companies hurt by tariff volatility do just
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