CNFC Overseas Fishery Co. has received a subsidy package worth CNY 71.2 million (USD 10.6 million, EUR 9.3 million) from its parent company, China Agricultural Development Co. The firm – which is the listed arm of state-owned China National Fishery Co., known for its huge fleet of trawlers and its extensive global processing operations – has flagged low prices for its tuna catch for its poor performance in 2019 and 2020. CNFC didn't detail what the subsidy is for and whether it's separate from other aid packages it gets each year directly from central government to help pay for fuel and vessels.
The firm is one of the Chinese tuna fishing firms targeted by a recent move by European fishing group Europêche, which has called on the European Commission to commence an anti-dumping investigation and to end tariff exemptions on Chinese tuna loins for what it says is unfair competition due to Chinese government subsidies for fishing companies.
Meanwhile ,the boss of another major Chinese fishing firm has hailed the landing of a record 5,100-metric-ton squid catch from the company’s 15 jigging vessels in South American waters, which have been the focus of much media attention recently.
“Compared to other varieties of squid, Argentina squid better meets the taste of the Chinese people and its market price is relatively higher,” Pingtan Marine Enterprise Co. Chairman and CEO Xinrong Zhuo in a press release issued 28 September. The company is listed publicly on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.
Zhou valued the catch at USD 20 million (EUR 17 million) at prevailing market prices of USD 4.00 (EUR 3.41) per kilogram.
“We believe the sale of this product will have a positive impact on our operating results for the upcoming quarter." Zhou said: "Argentina squid is one of our key products for the second half of the year and we will complete the unloading and warehouse-in procedures during the China's Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays.”
Pingtan said the Argentinean squid catches from its vessels in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean were transported back to Mawei port in Fuzhou on a company reefer. It is not clear if the fleet was part of the 400-strong flotilla of Chinese vessels fishing on the border of the exclusive economic zones of Ecuador and Peru, which environmentalists and policy-makers have criticized as “pillaging” the region for squid.
Photo courtesy of Pingtan Marine
