CNFC Overseas Fisheries, the listed arm of state-owned China National Fisheries Corp (CNFC), suffered losses in the first half of 2019.
Sluggish demand for frozen tuna and losses at its joint-venture insurance firm, Hua Nong, are the reasons given for the loss in the company’s financial report for the first six months of this year.
The company lost CNY 46.8 million (USD 6.6 million, EUR 5.9 million) in the first half of this year, compared to a CNY 3.8 million (USD 530,000, EUR 481,800) loss in the first half of 2018. It reported total revenue of CNY 279 million (USD 39.3 million, EUR 35.4 million) for the first six months of 2019, down 2.73 percent on the figure for the first half of 2018. Its revenue from fishing activities, at CNY 207 million (USD 29.2 million, EUR 26.3 million), was down 7.48 percent year-on-year.
CNFC Overseas Fisheries landed 7,185 tons of tuna in the first half of 2019 compared to 7,220 tons in the same period last year. The firm previously announced it is building five new longliners and renovating six others in order to expand its fleet’s capacity. It aims to expand its presence on Vanuatu as part of its “South Pacific dominance strategy.”
CNFC Overseas Fisheries reported a profit of CNY 16 million (USD 2.25 million, EUR 2 million) down 50 percent year on year) in 2018 on revenues of CNY 626 million (USD 88.3 million, EUR 70.4 million) down 16 percent year on year.
CNFC, which has built up a network of offices and logistics hubs around the world, earlier this summer announced that it purchased Zhejiang Feng Hui Distant Water Fishing Co., an operator with seven trawlers including six longline vessels and the Feng Hui 9, a squid trawler. Feng Hui also has aquaculture assets and a marine navigation equipment in China, according to its business description at the company registrations office in Zheijiang Province.
The company signaled profits of just USD 3.3 million (EUR 3 million) for the first quarter of 2019, but earnings per share dropped 220 percent on the same period last year. Even with government fuel subsidies to cushion its bottom line, CNFC saw its revenues from fisheries drop 16 percent last year to USD 94 million (EUR 11.9 million). CNFC’s shares were trading at CNY 5.87 (USD 0.82, EUR 0.74) on 22 August, compared to CNY 8.05 (USD 1.13, EUR 1.02) in mid-May 2018.
The company is ultimately controlled by the China Agricultural Development Co, the giant conglomerate managing key government agricultural and fisheries companies.
Photo courtesy of Cliff White/SeafoodSource
