Joe Murphy, a veteran executive at Luen Thai Fishing Ventures, is retiring in April 2022 after 50 years in the seafood industry.
Murphy has spent the past dozen years as senior vice president of marketing at Luen Thai – part of a broader Chinese conglomerate known for being a leader in Asia in pursuing sustainability certifications for its tuna catch. At Luen Thai, Murphy has overseen the global sales of the company’s fresh and frozen tuna. Murphy will continue to take on part-time consultancy work in his retirement, he told SeafoodSource.
Murphy previously worked as vice president of sales at Chicken of the Sea, vice president responsible for international sales at Bumble Bee, and vice president for marketing at Tri Marine.
Thus far in 2022, global inflation has not yet impacted tuna sales, despite "modest" rises in prices, Murphy said.
“We did take a small price increase in Q4 last year to cover the increased fuel costs the fleet is having to absorb. Our customers were very understanding as, of course, they too are having to pay increased prices to fuel their delivery trucks or common carriers,” Murphy said. “We entered 2022 with a decent catch rate, but it seems that after the volcano [eruption] in Tonga, catches have declined by about 25 percent. There is no evidence to link the catch decline to the volcano except coincidence. We do hope for a rebound soon. Demand has remained good, with the exception of one week in early January when omicron was particularly rampant on the [U.S.] East Coast.”
