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
Hong Kong needs to radically improve its traceability infrastructure for seafood imports, according to a new report.
Titled “Hong Kong’s Seafood Trade, Port Measures, and Import Controls – Paddling to Keep Up,” the report outlines that Hong Kong is facilitating massive trade in live reef fish by allowing shipments into and out of the city that have little or no traceability information attached.
Corroborating those
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China has begun sourcing food products away from Western markets in an attempt to limit the damage looming trade disruptions may cause.
“Slowly but surely, it seems like China’s finding a path that allows it to rely on international markets, allows it to rely on trade partners, but doesn't create insecurity,” Even Pay, an agriculture analyst at policy research consultancy firm Trivium China, told Bloomberg recently.
Regarding
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Chinese fishing firm Rongcheng Ocean Fisheries Co. is nearing completion on a CNY 150 million (USD 21 million, EUR 19.5 million) fishing port project in the West African nation of Ghana, despite allegations that the firm has engaged in illegal fishing practices in the country’s waters.
The municipal government of Weihai, a major aquaculture and fish-processing hub where Rongcheng Fisheries is headquartered, announced the update at a 18
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Chinese e-commerce company JD.com has partnered with a technology firm to launch an aquaculture farm in the southeast province of Guangdong – a project the local government is promoting as a vertically integrated fish farm, hatchery, and processing facility that will provide JD customers with fresh fish nationwide.
The Jingdong Intelligent Fishery Industry Park aims to produce 5,000 metric tons of output in 2025 worth CNY 430 million (USD
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After a difficult 2024, Chinese whitefish processors are facing sharply rising raw material prices along with tepid export demand as the new year begins.
“U.S. sanctions on Russian seafood have had a significant impact, with prices for Norwegian cod increasing by over 70 percent and prices for Russian cod raw material rising by 65 percent,” David Jiang, the managing director at Chinese processing firm Unibond Seafood International,
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The Chinese locations of Singapore-based seafood restaurant chain Jumbo Seafood have continued to struggle financially, leading the company to shift plans for growth back to its domestic market of Southeast Asia.
According to the chain’s most recent financial results, which cover the full year ending 30 September 2024, Jumbo Seafood Group’s revenues from its mainland China operations fell by 27.6 percent year over year, dropping by
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World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on ending subsidies that lead to overcapacity and overfishing around the globe – the text of which is referred to as Fish 2 – may not recommence in earnest until 2026, according to experts analyzing the discussions in Geneva, Switzerland.
“The next important decision point looks like it will be in Cameroon in 2026,” Oceana Senior Analyst Daniel Skerritt said. “I
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A representative of Ireland’s inshore fishing industry has accused retailers in the country of using misleading advertising on products that contain imported seafood, undermining Irish fishers’ incomes and livelihoods in the process.
Michael Desmond, the chair of the Cahersiveen, Ireland-based National Inshore Fishermen's Association (NIFA), said that products in Irish grocery stores contain misleading images that make consumers
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Chinese squid-fishing companies have been stepping up efforts to secure a bigger share of the E.U. market.
Multiple Chinese companies, along with officials from municipal governments, said that they can sell more squid to the E.U. by getting more Chinese vessels to meet requirements for E.U. import registration. The requirements would also would elicit the benefits of catching more squid, achieving higher prices for it, and modernizing the
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