Supply & Trade

Chinese seafood companies are protesting over the Chinese government’s decision to enforce United Nations sanctions on North Korean seafood imports.

Soon after the government announced it was cutting off imports of North Korean seafood and other goods, dozens of seafood company employees protested in the streets of Hunchun, home to hundreds of seafood processing businesses, the Sacramento Bee reported.

"I have more than 30 workers and I as… Read More

China’s seafood processors may face an existential threat from a new push by government to raise the standards of food sold for the domestic market to the same as those in place for the export market. 

It costs on average 50 percent more to produce goods to specifications for export markets as it does for the domestic Chinese market, according to a study by the China Certification and Accreditation Administration, which is one of the b… Read More

A massive fire at Peter Pan Seafoods’ Port Moller, Alaska-based salmon processing facility will cause the plant to close its doors for the 2017 season.

The fire at the 100-year-old plant broke out around midnight on 16 August, and burned into the morning, according to Alaska Dispatch News. Power, running water and internet connections were down in the remote community.

While Maruha Nichiro-owned Peter Pan did not list the cause of the fire,… Read More

A Vietnamese official warned that new rules may prohibit the export of pangasius to the United States in the future. Simultaneously, Norwegian researchers detected Chinese liver fluke, a dangerous parasite, in some Vietnamese pangasius.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) began inspecting all imported catfish in early August. Only two of 14 Vietnamese pangasius exporters are exporting sign… Read More

Rainforest Seafoods, a supplier of premium quality fish and seafood with its headquarters in Jamaica and operations in other Caribbean territories, has recently been doing major expansion of its facilities, as well as moving into new markets in Europe, Asia, the US and beyond. In those markets they are selling Jamaica lobster and conch. Mr. Max Jardim, Rainforest Seafood's business development manager, agreed to respond to some questions from Sea… Read More

China continues to seek supplies of fish to make up for squeezed local supply, judging from wholesale pricing data for the first half of the year. 

In the first six months of the year, freshwater seafood prices rose 3.14 percent on the same period last year, but the main driver was fish, according to a survey of the 80 top seafood wholesale markets in China conducted by the ministry of agriculture. 

Of 49 species surveyed, the prices fo… Read More

Elimination of government subsidies deemed harmful by the World Trade Organization will be high on the agenda at an upcoming meeting of WTO member states in Argentina.

Member states are hoping to reach a firm agreement on reducing and eliminating fisheries subsidies by December 2017, when they will convene at the 11th Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The topic was discussed at a WTO members meeting earlier this month at which me… Read More

Seafood importer and supplier Maxfield Seafood sued Seneca Logistics over a major seafood theft from its warehouse in Boston, Massachusetts.

In the complaint filed in federal court in Massachusetts, Maxfield – which is based out of City of Industry, California – claimed that Seneca was negligent when a truckload of lobster worth USD 318,000 (EUR 271,762) was stolen.

In mid-December 2016, Maxfield called Seneca to request transportatio… Read More

China decided to stop seafood imports – along with iron and iron ore – from North Korea on Monday, 14 August.

The Chinese government had pledged to fully enforce the recent United Nations sanctions against North Korea that include halting profitable seafood exports.

The sanctions could slash the country’s USD 3 billion (EUR 2.5 billion) in annual export revenue by a third, according to The Guardian.

The Chinese commerce ministry… Read More

King salmon commercial and sport fishers in Southeast Alaska were asked to wrap up their harvesting efforts on 10 August following record low returns for the region – the worst seen since the commercial harvest in 1975, according to a report from Alaska Fish Radio. 

About 66,000 kings were landed in July during the four-day opener, with many fishers gearing up for a second haul of 31,000 projected fish in August. However, to help ensur… Read More