Mark Godfrey is an Irish journalist covering the agriculture and fisheries sectors in Asia, with a focus on China. Proficient in Mandarin, he has frequently traveled across China's fisheries and aquaculture regions and learned the inner workings of China's corporate world during a nearly three-year stint at the Financial Times' “China Confidential” publication. He has also reported widely across Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union. He has educational certificates in agriculture and food science, as well as Mandarin.
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Two Hong Kong-listed seafood firms have blamed China’s ongoing economic woes and the country’s ban on Japanese seafood imports – both issues of which have unclear resolutions as 2024 begins – for tighter margins and losses that have forced them to adapt quickly.
Revenue at import investment business Ocean One, which sources seafood for Hong Kong and mainland Chinese customers, dropped 3.1 percent to HKD 240.6 million (USD
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Ireland’s seafood exports dropped significantly in 2023, with the reopening of live brown crab exports to China a rare bright spot.
The country’s overall seafood exports fell 14 percent year over year to EUR 550 million (USD 599.5 million), according to Karen Devereux, head of the seafood desk at Bord Bia – Ireland’s state agency tasked with promoting food exports.
The numbers represent the continuation of a trend from
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A Norwegian cod-farming firm has signed a cooperative agreement with a Chinese importer and distributor, continuing a line of recent efforts from the European country to heavily advertise and sell its fish to the world’s largest seafood-consuming market.
Trondheim, Norway-based Norcod signed the agreement with Hecheng Food, which also goes by the English name Hi Chain, at an event in Shanghai in mid-December 2023. The partnership entails
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Iceland is in “advanced consultation” with European Union officials on a deal allowing access to Irish waters to catch EUR 22.5 million (USD 24.6 million) worth of whiting stocks, according to Irish Fish Processors Organization (IFPO) CEO Aodh O Donnell.
O Donnell criticized the negotiations, saying the deal will have “no reciprocal benefit for Ireland.”
A spokesperson for Iceland’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture,
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The Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) has begun to market the country’s mackerel products in China, including through partnerships with Chinese social media influencers, despite ongoing concerns over the stock’s sustainability throughout Europe.
The council recently partnered with Chinese chef Ren Yun Li, whose main account on the app Weibo has 3.2 million followers, and hosted her as a featured attendee at the China International
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A health-focused international venture capital firm is one of three new investors in Chinese krill-processing firm Function (Qingdao) Marine Technology.
As a health-focused firm describing itself as “a global venture capital platform investing in startups positively impacting the world through technology,” Cathay Innovations is part of the Cathay Capital group with offices in China, Europe, and the U.S.
Another investor in
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The share price of Jiumaojiu International Holdings, the operator of one of China’s most successful seafood restaurant chains, recently plunged following the revelation of habitual corporate governance issues at the firm.
Guangzhou-based Jiumaojiu, which operates the Tai Er chain of restaurants that is well-known in the country for serving fish with sauerkraut, has seen its share price tumble over 80 percent from early 2022, falling to a
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A Chinese city on the country’s east coast has outlined plans to construct a complete salmon industry value chain – from cage making to fry farming to processing – that has drawn skepticism on whether the city can pull off such an ambitious venture.
The plan, announced recently by the municipal government of Rizhao, involves an investment of nearly CNY 1 billion (USD 140 million, EUR 130 million) from Wanzefang Fishery Company
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The lead-up to Chinese New Year is a traditionally reliable sales period for seafood, but not this year, according to Peng Song, the CEO of Qingdao-based Beiyang Jiamei Seafood.
Established in 2009, Beiyang Jiamei imports Arctic shrimp, cod, and salmon as well as Ecuadorian shrimp and Greenland halibut and sells it via Seamix Seafood, one of the most popular seafood brands in China, with a strong following on retailer sites including JD.com.
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