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
Seafood trade experts remain divided on the ultimate impact of any free trade deal between China and Ecuador for the shrimp trade.
With rumors circulating the deal will be inked before the end of 2022, the impact of zero-tariff access could be a driver of Ecuadorian shrimp prices by unleashing Chinese demand, according to general manager of Bangkok, Thailand-based seafood trader Siam Canadian Group's Guangzhou office Landy
… Read MoreCalysta, targeting Chinese market, releases study showing FeedKind performs well for largemouth bass
Menlo Park, California, U.S.A.-based alternative feed producer Calysta has released a study showing it achieved better results from feeding the company’s branded feed to largemouth bass compared to similar fish fed fishmeal-based feed.
Calysta produces its vegetarian FeedKind brand feed through a proprietary fermentation-based process.
In a 10-week growth study carried out by the Institute of Feed Research at the Chinese Academy of
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A scaling back in spending by China’s big online commerce corporations has allowed a leading Chinese seafood snack-maker to reboot its sales.
China Shenghai Group has reported substantial sales recovery “attributable to the slowed industry consolidation” of China’s fast-growing snack market.
A major buyer of shrimp and squid for its dried seafood snacks business, Shenghai’s revenue from its food business
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Farming shrimp intensively in vertical, urban settings is the mission of John Diener, the CEO of Vertical Oceans, one of a range of aquaculture start-ups that have chosen to locate in Singapore, a city-state keen to increase its self-sufficiency in food and to become an innovation hub for the wider region.
Vertical Oceans, formerly known as Akualogix, has pioneered a form of land-based shrimp aquaculture including modular grow-out
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The manager of a leading Argentine red shrimp firm has said that Chinese investment has allowed his firm to expand its fleet and add more workers.
“Our sales volume continues to grow,” said Hugo Vence, CEO of Altamare SA, a shrimp and fishing fleet operator and processor based in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Vence said the company has hired 393 more workers – 357 of them Argentinian – since state-owned Shanghai Fishery Group
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Three men from the west of Ireland have been convicted of false imprisonment, assault, and obstruction in relation to an effort they made to evade law enforcement officers who were pursuing them for alleged illegal fishing.
The men were also convicted of possessing illegally-caught wild Atlantic salmon in charges brought by Inland Fisheries Ireland. Each received six-month jail terms – suspended for two years – and were also ordered
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A Nigerian fishing port project has pivoted amidst a pullback from China in its global infrastructure investments.
Originally proposed in 2019, the Andoni Fishing Port and Processing Zone was to be built on a 2,500-hectare site in Nigeria’s Rivers State, and would have included a fishing port, processing facilities,, warehousing, and ship-maintenance yards at an estimated cost between USD 1.5 billion and USD 2.5 billion (EUR 1.3
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The impact of the pandemic on Chinese consumption has been laid bare in the results of a leading restaurant chain serving seafood across the country.
Jiumaojiu International Holdings reported a 6.1 percent drop in revenue year-on-year for the first six months of the year to CNY 1.89 billion (USD 263.4 million, EUR 271.3 million). Profit for the period decreased by 69.5 percent to CNY 62.5 million (USD 8.7 million, EUR 9 million) ...
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Bord Bia, Ireland’s food marketing agency, has sought to stoke Chinese hunger for Irish seafood with a promotion at the Xanadu Hotel, one of the most-expensive addresses in the wealthy southern city of Guangzhou.
Located on the International Bio Island in the city’s Hai Zhu district, the hotel is hosting an Irish Seafood buffet lunch at CNY 148 (USD 20.63, EUR 21.27) that features Irish crab, oysters, whelks, and langoustines,
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Hong Kong-based Ocean One Holding Ltd. has reported rising demand for Canadian prawns and other premium frozen species in the wake of COVID-19-related dining and travel restrictions.
The company, one of Hong Kong’s top importers of frozen seafood, reported a 26.3 percent year-over-year jump in revenue, helped by strong sales of various high-margin products including Canadian spot prawn and other Canadian seafood ...
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