A producer of rainbow trout has become the latest Chinese firm to achieve for Best Aquaculture Practices certification from the Global Aquaculture Alliance.
Xinjiang Tianyun Organic Agriculture Co. is one of several Chinese firms producing trout at inland locations like Qinghai, Gansu, and Xinjiang. It is located in Kalasu township in Yili, a prefecture which borders the central Asian state of Kazakhstan that is nearly 2,500 kilometers away from Beijing. Tianyun produces 6,000 metric tons (MT) of fish per year and will produce 15,000 MT by 2022, it said in a press release.
Established in 2014, the firm said it also meets the “standards requirements” of the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI), though it’s not clear if is a member.
Local producers in China are seeking to cash in on the rising popularity of salmon in China, and hoping for an edge after public doubts emerged regarding the role of imported seafood packaging in transmitting COVID-19. Media coverage linking COVID-19 to imported seafood has hammered demand for imported seafood and sparked an upswell in demand for local products.
The far westerly region of Xinjiang has seen its aquaculture sector grow as traditional east coast production areas deal with the fallout from a national ramp-up of enforcement of environmental standards. Xinjiang Tianyun has earned the approval of China’s Agriculture Ministry, which has issued it government funding as part of a poverty alleviation project designed to encourage rural development in the region.
However, Xinjiang Province’s far-flung location has driven up Xinjiang Tianyun’s costs for transporting its fresh product to China's key urban markets, and Xinjian’s fish farmers have struggled to compete with imported salmon. Seeking to steal market share, local producers have cut prices and sought to sell trout under the same Mandarin marketing terms as “salmon” – the same term used by Tianyun for its trout.
Photo courtesy of Xinjiang Tianyun Organic Agriculture Co.
