A Chinese snack food specialist will anchor a new fisheries park to be built in Kenya.
Jinzai Foods Group, Hunan China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Research Association, and Zhongxiang Overseas Construction Development Co., signed a tripartite strategic cooperation agreement to build the facility, dubbed the China-Africa Kenya Fishery Industrial Park, at the 2022 China (Hunan) Africa National Fishery and Aquatic Products Promotion and Matchmaking Conference in late May.
Jinzai Foods, which is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, reported CNY 20 million (USD 3 million, EUR 2.8 million) in profit in Q1 2022 on revenue of CNY 259 million (USD 38.8 million, EUR 36.2 million). The company exports to North America and Australia claims it sells 1.3 billion units per year of its ‘Xiaoyu’ sealed snack packs in China.
Jinzai already operates a fish-processing subsidiary, Huawen Foods Kenya in Shimoni, a port town in southern Kenya near the Tanzanian border. Jinzai Managing Director Zhou Jinsong said at the conference his company plans to use the new facility to expand its aquaculture and fisheries sourcing operations in Kenya, with the goal of sourcing additional raw material for its “flavored fish products and leisure fish products.”
The government of Hunan, a major freshwater aquaculture-producing region, has been keen to increase trade with Africa. A similar event– the China Africa Trade Expo and Economic Cooperation summit – took place in 2021 in Changsha, at which several African nations were listed as joining the newly formed Hunan Macao Portuguese-speaking African Nations Fisheries Service Alliance.
Photo courtesy of Jinzai Foods Group
