Supply & Trade

One of China’s leading fishing companies has booked more than CNY 100 million (USD 15.1 million, EUR 12.8 million) in government subsidies for 2017. 

CNFC Overseas Fishery Co., Ltd announced to its shareholders that the payment was received and would have a “material effect” on the firm’s profits for the year.

CNFC badly needed a break after seeing the price of its shares collapse from CNY 14.00 (USD 2.11, EUR 1.80) i… Read More

Recently released data from the state of Maine’s mussel fishery show harvesters collected their lowest total amount of the shellfish in the past 40 years.

Maine’s combined total of wild-caught and farmed mussels totaled less than 1.8 million pounds in 2016, the least since 1976 and continuing a slide in production that has been ongoing since the early 2000s, according to the Associated Press.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Maine’s muss… Read More

Pacific cod numbers in the Gulf of Alaska are at all-time lows, according to early looks at data collected from the 2017 summer survey.

Steve Barbeaux, a fisheries biologist for the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, said scientists believe that the warm water mass known as the blob may be responsible for the low numbers.

“It seems that this warm water that occurred that we’re calling the blob may have increased natural morta… Read More

With a significant presence in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, Miami, Florida-based supplier and distributor Quirch Foods is stepping up its efforts to help the island’s residents and get its business back up and running.

Hurricane Maria, which made landfall on Puerto Rico on 20 September, destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses and knocked out power throughout the island. Maria followed on the heels of Hurricane Irma, which hit Puerto Ri… Read More

With one of China’s key festivals approaching there’s good news for crab exporters with a reported shortage in premium local supply. Data from the Suzhou Yangcheng Lake Fisheries Management Committee which projects a year-on- year rise of up to 20 percent for the average Yangcheng crab prices.

Volumes of Yangcheng Lake hairy crab – the season for fishing the lake opened last week – are down four percent due to shrinking aq… Read More

Sales of Vietnamese pangasius to two of the country’s most important export markets, the European Union and the United States, are in sharp decline. European importers will not pay more than rock-bottom prices for IQF pangasius fillets, and the U.S. market has become unstable and protectionist, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Producers and Exporters (VASEP).

Pangasius producers in Vietnam are therefore seeking to improve sal… Read More

Philippines-based RD Corporation, a major tuna supplier and processor, had made a commitment to catching MSC-certified free-school skipjack and yellowfin tuna.

RD recently signed a memorandum of understanding with global tuna marketing company Pacifical, which represents the eight countries belonging to the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), that will see it increase its supply of MSC-certified tuna.

“This new cooperation is a major step… Read More

U.S. marketing authorities reported nearly USD 2 million (EUR 1.7 million) worth of business from a recent trade mission to open Southeast Asian markets to American exporters. 

The September mission to Singapore and Bangkok was planned as part of a new USDA Market Access Program (MAP)-funded Global Based Initiative (GBI) to introduce new products and expand existing U.S. seafood exports to Southeast Asia, explained Colleen Coyne, seafood pro… Read More

Four North Korean ships have been banned from visiting any global port, the United Nations said on 10 October, after they were found violating sanctions against North Korea.

The ships were found “transporting prohibited goods,” according to Hugh Griffiths, coordinator of a U.N. panel on North Korean sanctions, BBC News reported. Griffiths said the move was unprecedented.

The four ships are: Petrel 8, registered in Comoros; Hao Fan 6, … Read More

A federal agency that serves as the gatekeeper to the United States is planning changes after discovering that some seafood imported from China is produced by North Korean laborers.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement it is ready to block U.S. imports of seafood produced by North Korean laborers after an Associated Press investigation tracked salmon, squid, and cod sold at Walmart, ALDI, and other U.S. stores to North Korean la… Read More