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
A group representing Irish farmers is asking the Irish government to extend aquaculture farming licenses from 10 to 20 years in duration as part of an effort to drive output and bring new producers into the sector, which has recently struggled to grow.
Finian O’Sullivan, who is the aquaculture chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association and is also a mussel farmer, told SeafoodSource that the nation’s aquaculture output was
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Considering the U.S.’s launch of a global trade war and U.S. President Donald Trump’s disdain for international collaboration, experts are warning that the U.S. may soon leave the World Trade Organization (WTO), a move that could render trade rules unenforceable among developing economies and throw global trade further into chaos.
“We should not preclude a prospect where the U.S. will leave the WTO in the coming 18
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High mortality rates, mainly due to low-quality seed, are driving up prices for Malaysian shrimp, according to Benjamin Saw, the director of Malaysian shrimp-farming firm Arus Nagamas.
“Shrimp prices in Malaysia are now at the highest they have ever been,” Saw told SeafoodSource. “There is a big shortage of tiger prawns in Malaysia now driving prices up.”
Saw told SeafoodSource that farmgate prices are averaging MYR 32
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China-based seafood traders and processors said they are frustrated with recent escalations in a trade war between the U.S. and China, which saw U.S. President Donald Trump raise the tariff on Chinese imports to 125 percent hours after China boosted the duty on American goods to 84 percent.
Beiyang Jiamei Seafood Co CEO Peng Song, which operates the Seamix Seafood brand, said his company is “experiencing a hard time” due to tariffs.
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China’s recent ratification of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing – also known simply as the Port State Measures Agreement – is a “concrete measure” that shows China’s authentic resolve in fighting illegal fishing, according to the China Aquatic Product Processing and Marketing
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“Blind” overuse of chemicals in the Chinese aquaculture sector is posing a threat to human health, according to Liu Xiao Yan, the deputy director of the Biological Pesticide Center at the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Speaking at the recent National People’s Congress, Liu pointed to the overuse of such chemicals as chloramphenicol, enrofloxacin, and green malachite, which are used to control bacteria in aquaculture,
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China’s seafood-processing industry, as well as the country’s manufacturing sector as a whole, are facing multiple obstacles that will require rapid adaptation to hurdle, according to David Jiang, the managing director of seafood processing and distribution firm Unibond Seafood International.
“Rising wages, an aging workforce, and younger generations’ reluctance to enter traditional factory roles are all impacting our
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Global trade volatility has made some Irish crab and lobster exporters wary of relying on China as a growth market.
“China is a significant importer of our products, but we are not looking to increase this,” said Enda Carey, the manager of County Mayo, Ireland-based West Coast Crab Sales. “The current trade wars going on globally are a threat to any business exporting; for this reason, we are not looking to increase volume to
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A recent study of Chinese consumer buying preferences shows a majority of seafood buyers in the country are willing to pay extra for products certified by authoritative third-party auditors.
The report, titled “‘Consumption Patterns and Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Aquatic Food in China,” offers encouragement to certification schemes that have faced difficulties in the country
Written in collaboration with the Global
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The head of a Chinese tuna-fishing firm is calling for more fisheries collaboration between Hong Kong and China, explaining that possible synergies between the two are not being taken advantage of.
Henry Tan, the CEO of Luen Thai Holdings, which oversees Chinese fishing companies Liancheng Overseas Fishery, China Southern Fishery Shenzhen Co., and Liancheng Overseas Fishery Co., spoke at the recent annual meeting of China’s parliament in
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