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 Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) has begun to market the country’s mackerel products in China, including through partnerships with Chinese social media influencers, despite ongoing concerns over the stock’s sustainability throughout Europe.
The council recently partnered with Chinese chef Ren Yun Li, whose main account on the app Weibo has 3.2 million followers, and hosted her as a featured attendee at the China International
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A health-focused international venture capital firm is one of three new investors in Chinese krill-processing firm Function (Qingdao) Marine Technology.
As a health-focused firm describing itself as “a global venture capital platform investing in startups positively impacting the world through technology,” Cathay Innovations is part of the Cathay Capital group with offices in China, Europe, and the U.S.
Another investor in
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The share price of Jiumaojiu International Holdings, the operator of one of China’s most successful seafood restaurant chains, recently plunged following the revelation of habitual corporate governance issues at the firm.
Guangzhou-based Jiumaojiu, which operates the Tai Er chain of restaurants that is well-known in the country for serving fish with sauerkraut, has seen its share price tumble over 80 percent from early 2022, falling to a
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A Chinese city on the country’s east coast has outlined plans to construct a complete salmon industry value chain – from cage making to fry farming to processing – that has drawn skepticism on whether the city can pull off such an ambitious venture.
The plan, announced recently by the municipal government of Rizhao, involves an investment of nearly CNY 1 billion (USD 140 million, EUR 130 million) from Wanzefang Fishery Company
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The lead-up to Chinese New Year is a traditionally reliable sales period for seafood, but not this year, according to Peng Song, the CEO of Qingdao-based Beiyang Jiamei Seafood.
Established in 2009, Beiyang Jiamei imports Arctic shrimp, cod, and salmon as well as Ecuadorian shrimp and Greenland halibut and sells it via Seamix Seafood, one of the most popular seafood brands in China, with a strong following on retailer sites including JD.com.
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Dublin, Ireland-based aquaculture technology company NanobOx has received a new round of funding to help it bring its innovative oxygenation technology to market and kickstart the country’s stagnant domestic aquaculture sector.
The fresh round of funding comes after the company already secured Series A funding of EUR 900,000 (USD 972,000) from a consortium of venture capital investors who have bought into NanobOx’s energy-efficient
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World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiators have struggled to conclude talks on ending harmful fishery subsidies, and as each day goes by, the 31 December deadline to agree on a draft text – set by Icelandic WTO Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson, who has been chairing the talks – looms larger.
The ongoing talks aim to build upon a deal the WTO reached in 2022, which prohibited subsidy support for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU)
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Norwegian krill processor Aker BioMarine has described the effort to replace krill as an ingredient in aquafeed as “ill-advised.”
This critique comes after the Future of Fish Feed (F3) – a collaborative effort between NGOs, researchers, and private partnerships that supports innovative efforts to scale up sustainable fish feed production – recently announced a shortlist of 10 companies that have been named finalists in
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Seafood purchases in China’s restaurant market are drying up as consumer demand dwindles.
Prices for staple mass market species including pangasius and snakehead are down an average of 20 percent year over year, as suppliers push to revive both consumer and restaurant demand.
China’s restaurant scene has seen an influx of new players in recent years, and heavier competition is also resulting in lower prices, according to
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