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 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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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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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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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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Ecuadorian, Indian, and Russian seafood exporters have been hit with export bans to China after falling foul of that country’s customs rules on preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Guayaquil, Ecuador-based firm Frigopesca as well as Pedernales, Ecuador-based Camar-Expo were given bans of unspecified lengths by Chinese customs for failing video checks of the companies’ COVID prevention measures at their respective production facilities.
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The founders of Entobel and Protenga, two of the world’s leaders in developing insect-based aquafeed, are often asked why they decided to base their companies in Southeast Asia.
Insect protein companies have clustered in the region because local governments, focused on food security, jobs, and innovation, are keen to welcome them, Gaetan Crielaard, the co-founder of Entobel – which set up in Vietnam in 2013 – told
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A subsidiary of China Ocean Development has set up a joint venture that will give the distant-water fishing company access to Indonesian waters.
Described as an “indirect subsidiary” of China Ocean, Qisen Fishery will take an 80 percent stake in the new joint venture ...
Photo courtesy of Agung
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The mood around China’s economy appears to have darkened as the country posted underwhelming growth in Q3 2022.
China's GDP grew 3.9 percent in the third quarter, some way off the official target for the year of 5.5 percent growth. Retail sales grew 2.5 percent year-on-year in September 2022, well below figures seen in recent years, while ...
Photo courtesy of Mirko
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Guangdong Haid, an aquafeed firm based in Guangdong, China, is projecting a 15 to 32 percent increase in profits in the third quarter of 2022.
In recently issued guidance, the company said it expects to post a net profit of CNY 2 to CNY 2.3 billion (USD 275 million to 317 million, EUR 279 million to 321 million) in Q3 2022.
The results confirm that Haid, one of China’s top three feed supplier with a seven percent share of the feed market,
… Read MoreIreland looks set to scrap a work-permit scheme introduced in 2015 for non-European fishery workers after a review ordered by government recommended a transition to regular employment permits given to other immigrants.
On 11 October, after a delay of seven months, the Irish government finally approved the publication of the Review of the Atypical Scheme for non-EEA Crew in the Irish Fishing Fleet. Three governmental departments –
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