Troubled Chinese seafood firm Zoneco Group has a new boss, and a possible path to renewed profitability.
Company insider Tang Yan has taken over as chairperson of the board at the aquaculture, marketing, and processing firm, replacing longtime head Wu Hou Gang after the latter was censured by the Chinese securities regulator.
With a background in financial control, Tang joined Zoneco in 2008 and worked in various senior roles, including as assistant to Wu and as head of the group’s processing and logistics operations. With her appointment, she becomes one of the few female bosses in the Chinese seafood industry.
Yan starts her role with a positive news backstory after Zoneco reported a surge in profits for the first half of the year, with projected profits between CNY 35 million (USD 4.9 million, EUR 4.5 million) and CNY 45 million (USD 6.3 million, EUR 5.85 million) – a big improvement on the CNY 23.58 million (USD 3.30 million, EUR 3.06 million) lost in the same period last year. The company also posted year-end losses for 2019.
Earlier this summer, Zoneco was handed down a CNY 60,000 (USD 8,400, EUR 7,800) fine by China’s securities regulator for filing misleading reports with the stock market. The regulator also slapped 15 of its executives – including chairman Wu – with fines and bans from directing a listed firm.
But in another setback, the Marine Stewardship Council's certification of Zoneco's scallop fishery was recently suspended. The certification, awarded in 2015, was a coup for Zoneco and a first for a Chinese fishery. This week, the MSC holding its annual Sustainable Seafood Week in Chinam, with a promotion of sustainable seafood in retail outlets nationwide under the theme "Healthy Life, Healthy Ocean."
A media campaign has featured top executives from e-commerce giant JD.com stressing how important MSC certification is for guaranteeing the safety of seafood products – a timely statement given recent assertions by Chinese authorities that the COVID-19 virus had been detected on imported seafood packaging.
“We use MSC’s very strict standards to reassure our customers,” Wen Li, head of quality control at online retailer JD.com, wrote in an article published on Sina.com.
Photo by Chris Chase/SeafoodSource
