New flavours and packaging formats are getting China eating more tuna: that’s according to the giant state-owned Liaoning Province Dalian Ocean Fishery Group Co (also known as Liaoyu Group) which captured two key awards from the China Canned Food Industry Association at its end of year awards night.
Liaoyu picked up awards for its "International Flavors’ canned tuna series (launched in 2015) and the ‘Flavours of the South Pole’ canned krill series (also launched this year) landing the firm the CCFIA’s 2015 Innovation Award. Prepared to local tastes, Liaoyu’s more established canned seafood for the domestic market includes grilled herring canned in soy sauce. It also sells canned sardines and crab in China.
Packed in 185g cans which sell for CNY 12 both online and in stores, Liaoyu’s International Flavours tuna range feature tuna prepared in sauce to French, Italian, Mexican, Italian, Brazil and India. This shows the firm’s innovation, according to a company executive reached on the company’s sales line. He says the types of aluminium cans used by the firm are also “an innovation in China.”
The krill series meanwhile shows that Liaoyu is “able to secure new resources, from the Antarctic, and it shows our company is able to develop new flavours and products” according to a Liaoyu statement on its award win. “The use of aluminum canning of crabs is a new innovation for China,” added the statement.
The CCFIA jury praised Liaoyu’s “independent research and development” and production and sales operations which “promote the development of related industries” – all of this “creates a broader market in China and internationally.”
State owned giants aren’t known for new and innovative products. Trading under the “Yuan Yang” (also known as Ocean) brand, Liaoyu has however proven its ability to tap domestic markets with convenience-focused products like affordable heat-treated fish meat snack stick (typically selling at RMB14 per 250g pack at retail level) distributed nationwide as a packaged snack in the style of meat sticks sold by the big pork companies to consumers. As the sticks are heat treated refrigeration isn’t an issue and thus distribution is easier in far-flung rural regions.
The development of China’s seafood cannery industry is crucial to the development of aquaculture, the packaging industry and China’s seafood exports, explained Liang Zhongkang, secretary general of the China Canned Food Industry Association speaking at a CCFIA launch of an “information exchange” for seafood canning companies earlier this month in Ningbo, a cannery hub on China’s east coast. China has become a world leader in canned mackerel of which it exports over 100,000 tons per year, said Liang. But he warned the industry is being undermined by “competition based too much on price” and called on firms to align their efforts so that the industry is based more on innovation rather than price.
Fully state owned, the Liaoyu Group spent its early years catching and processing pelagics for the export-market. But in a wealthier China (with a stronger currency and higher labour costs) the firm has enviously eyed the domestic market, increasingly seeking to import higher-value seafood for the domestic market. The firm has also in particular sought to expand the export and local markets for squid and tuna from its processing plants. The company has invested over RMB100 million in the last five years on expanding its tuna, mackerel and squid processing lines.
With a staff of 5,000 and fleets operating globally, Liaoyu says it has an annual catch of 300,000 tons, processing of 75,000 tons and exports of 50,000 tons per year. According to the records of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission the company’s subsidiaries include Dalian Ocean Fishery International Trade Corporation (also known as Ocean International) which is termed the domestic and international trading window for the entire group, selling frozen, normal-temperature and dried seafood products worth over USD 50 million per year according to company records. Liaoyu is also licensed to export labour for pelagic fishing operations – putting Chinese staff on international fishing vessels. The company also has its own docks in Dalian.
