Mark Godfrey

Contributing Editor

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.


Author Archive

Published on
December 6, 2024

China’s seafood trade sagged in the first three quarters of 2024 compared to the same period last year, with the performance of imports lagging during the period.

The country’s seafood imports amounted to 4.54 million metric tons (MT) worth USD 14.8 billion (EUR 14 billion) in the period, representing an increase of 1.2 percent by volume and 6.7 percent by value, respectively, according to the China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural

Read More
Published on
December 5, 2024

China announced that the first shipment of Arctic king crab transported via a new overland route through Russia and Kazakhstan was successful.

The 20-metric-ton (MT) shipment traveled through the Barents Sea, Russia, and then through Kazakhstan into the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where it entered China in Jeminay County near the city of Urumqi. The trip took six days to transit through Russia and Kazakhstan before arriving at a trading

Read More
Published on
December 3, 2024
Einar Wathne, a business advisor at aquaculture and feed firm Norsk Bioakva and an assistant professor within the Norwegian University of Life Sciences’ biosciences department, said he believes fish farmers and investors will soon begin playing a larger role within the fish feed sector. Wathne, who spoke recently at the IFFO - The Marine Ingredients Organization’s annual conference in Lisbon, Portugal, said that this will occur at the same… Read More
Published on
December 3, 2024
Mahdi Mesbahi is an export manager at Shrimpy Co., an Iranian shrimp production and exporting firm.  He recently spoke with SeafoodSource about how his industry relies on China and the domestic market for its sales, and explained the difference between approaching both markets.  Iran aims to export USD 2 billion (EUR 1.8 billion) worth of seafood and ship at least 2.6 million metric tons (MT) of seafood products by 2026, and Mesbahi outlined… Read More
Published on
December 2, 2024

Facing dwindling domestic demand and potential new tariffs in the U.S., some Chinese seafood firms have begun to cast their attention toward Southeast Asia.

Guangdon, China-based Guolian Aquatic and Guangdong Evergreen – a conglomerate which produces and processes fish, shrimp, and aquafeed, – have targeted Indonesia as a location that may be able to offer more consistently lucrative business.

Representatives from both firms recently

Read More
Published on
November 28, 2024

Grouper farming is outstripping the growth rates of any other aquaculture species in China, according to recent government figures.

Grouper output totaled 241,000 metric tons (MT) in 2023, according to data compiled for this year’s edition of the China Fishery Statistical Yearbook. This growth is a continuation of a long trend, according to the yearbook, as grouper farming volumes have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 11 percent

Read More
Published on
November 27, 2024

Ireland’s three largest political parties have been courting voters in the seafood industry in the run up to the country’s general election on 29 November by making several promises to strengthen the sector.

Two of the country’s current ruling parties – Fine Gael and Fianna Fail – have promised the industry a dedicated minister of state for fisheries if elected, while the Sinn Fein party has promised to institute a

Read More
Published on
November 21, 2024

Venture capital companies have been eager to invest in salmon aquaculture technology lately, especially as the industry has consistent growth projections, according to Carl-Emil Kjolas Johannessen.

Johannessen, an investment banker at Oslo, Norway-based Pareto Securities, spoke recently at IFFO - The Marine Ingredients Organization’s annual meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, where he said investors have been looking closely at opportunities to

Read More
Published on
November 19, 2024

Chinese officials signed protocol agreements with a few representatives of African markets during this year’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, granting African seafood exporters access to the Chinese market even as data from Chinese customs shows the volume and value of the country’s seafood imports dropped over the first eight months of the year.

China imported just over 3 million metric tons of seafood products over the first

Read More
Published on
November 15, 2024

Increased debt loads carried by governments around the world are resulting in the need for private sector investments to fund better management of global fish stocks, according to Jim Cannon.

Speaking at the IFFO - The Marine Ingredients Organization’s 2024 annual conference in Lisbon, Portugal, Cannon – who is the head of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, a Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.-based nonprofit that aims to ensure healthy

Read More