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
November 8, 2022

Indonesian fishing company Kanzun has denied a claim that it has entered a joint venture with Chinese fishery firm China Ocean Development.

China Ocean Development recently announced in an official statement to investors on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it’s listed, it was entering a joint venture with Indonesian firm PT Kanzun Bahriyah Sentosa to fish in Indonesian waters.

China Ocean Development announced it would set up a joint

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Published on
November 8, 2022

Processing equipment manufacturer Marel saw record order intake from China in 2022.

The company said its short-term outlook was threatened by Norway’s salmon-farming tax proposal, but that its medium-term outlook for its fish segment was good. Marel is targeting EBIT margin expansion for Marel Fish, relying on an improved product mix to boost sales. On that vein, it said it had introduced new products for whitefish and tilapia processing,

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Published on
November 7, 2022

Ireland is seeking to establish itself as a hub for aquaculture technology, according to Wayne Murphy, the co-founder of Hatch, a program assisting start-ups in the sector globally.

Ireland is drawing on its status as a European hub for many of the world’s largest technology and life science companies to boost its aquaculture sector, Murphy said.

“Ireland’s start-up system is very developed,” Murphy told

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Published on
November 7, 2022

Calysseo, a joint venture between alternative protein firm Calysta and Chinese-owned animal nutrition leader Adisseo, plans to build a 100,000-ton-capacity alternative protein facility in Saudi Arabia, in partnership with local firm Food Caravan.

According to Calysta, a gas allocation has been provided for the plant from the Saudi Ministry of Energy – the FeedKind production process uses a form of gas fermentation. The project is being

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Published on
November 4, 2022

Veteran seafood trader Didier Boon said he believes the success of the proposed China-Ecuador free-trade deal, which expected to be signed by December 2022, won’t succeed if Ecuador doesn’t kowtow to China’s global political agenda.

Boon, the managing director of Beijing-based East China Seas, which imports seafood to china and supplies buyers in the E.U., U.S., and Latin America with processed seafood from China, said

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Published on
November 4, 2022

China’s seafood sales are up year-on-year in retail value terms thus far in 2022, but down on 2020 figures, according to new data from market research agency Euromonitor.

Chinese demand continues to grow for convenience-themed items. Faced with frequent and abrupt COVID-19 lockdowns, Chinese consumers have turned to ready-to-eat meals. Chinese seafood processors, including Yuehai and Guolian Aquatic, have put increasing

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Published on
October 31, 2022

The organizers of China Fisheries and Seafood Expo, China’s largest seafood trade fair, have called off the event, scheduled to take place 9 to 12 November, 2022.

The China Fisheries and Seafood Expo had originally been scheduled to take place 26 to 28 October, but was postponed and has now been canceled due to government intervention over concern the show will facilitate the spread of COVID-19.  

Qingdao authorities contacted

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Published on
October 28, 2022

Indonesian energy company PT Ratu Praba Energy is looking for partners to set up a tuna-fishing operation, having purchased 15 secondhand trawlers from an Italian supplier.

Formerly a furniture maker, in the past decade, PT Ratu Praba Energy switched focus to providing services for oil, gas, and mining companies.

Company management has reached out to potential fisheries partners in Japan, South Korea, and elsewhere for assistance with setting up

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Published on
October 27, 2022

Fujian Zhengguan Fishery Development Co. has announced construction on its new krill fishing and processing vessel has begun.

In recent years, a number of Chinese fishing companies have announced the construction of new vessels to target the Antarctic krill fishery. But a rise in shipbuilding costs and a struggle to staff the technically demanding vessels has stalled the plans of several of those firms to move into the

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Published on
October 27, 2022

China has signed an agreement that will allow imports, including seafood, from Nicaragua to enter the country duty-free.

Beijing promised Nicaragua a free-trade deal in return for it switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan in December 2021.

Nicaragua exported USD 180 million (EUR 179 million) worth of seafood in the ... 

Photo courtesy of China Ministry of Foreign

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