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.
Author Archive
Chinese seafood processor and convenience seafood distributor Xianmeilai Food Co. is once again going for an initial public offering.
This is the third time Xianmeilai Food has filed for an IPO on the stock market listing in Shanghai Stock Exchange, following unsuccessful attempts in 2021 and 2022. The privately owned company is seeking to raise CNY 600 million (USD 96 million, EUR 84 million) to expand its distribution and logistics network as
… Read More
In response to the recently transpired May Day holiday, China's government sought to unleash domestic tourism spending by lowering airline fuel surcharges and offering various subsidies to catering and travel companies.
The number of inquiries and bookings for domestic and international travel have increased significantly within the past two months, according to China Daily.
Thailand, long a major destination for Chinese visitors, who are avid
… Read More
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has stepped in to help Vietnam-based insect feed producer Entobel to reach scale in what could be a decisive boost of confidence in a sector facing worries over costs and scale of production.
A World Bank entity focused on supporting the private sector, the IFC is helping Entobel build what will be the region’s largest insect meal plant to date in the Vung Tau province of Vietnam. Neither Entobel
… Read More
A European Union ban on seafood from Cameroon is prompting local fleets to look toward China for investment, according to Edwin Ngwafor, who is the director of Timezone Marine Ventures, a Yaoundé-based firm with a permit for 40 vessels.
Ngwafor, who is also the deputy managing partner at a Cameroonian law firm, wants to attract a Chinese partner who can bring money and expertise to a joint venture project that would aim to sell species
… Read More
On 28 March, Irish police raided the offices of a fishing company in County Donegal, in the northwest of the country, on the basis of information that the firm had paid bribes to an African leader for access to fishing rights.
Gardai have disclosed neither the name of the company in question nor the African country, but this type of investigation could be the first of many due to the rising value of continually scarce wild fish stocks, according
… Read More
China is pushing a major expansion of its mariculture sector as a valuable technology export opportunity and a fix for domestic food security issues.
The municipal government of Yantai in the key aquaculture region of Shandong recently announced it will build “50 demonstration zones for deepwater mariculture” over the next five years. Sun Chenglie, a researcher at the Yantai Ocean Development and Fishery Bureau, recently said at a
… Read More
Several fisheries experts in developing countries have described what they see as the hypocrisy of industrialized countries demanding developing nations cut subsidies to their fisheries at ongoing World Trade Organization talks.
Azim Premji University Visiting Professor John Kurien, an expert in small-scale fisheries who supports a more-expansive WTO deal on fisheries subsidies, said countries with large fleets bear a particular historical
… Read More
China may have avoided a second Covid wave since it rolled back its zero-Covid policy in November 2022, but for many Chinese consumers, health issues are still preeminent in their food-shopping decisions.
Covid lockdowns heightened Chinese consumers’ appetite for functional, health-focused seafood products, according to Dmitri Sclabos, an adviser to several Antarctic krill firms selling into China. He noted strong digital sales and a
… Read More
Nearly six months on from China dropping its zero-Covid policy, consumer spending on seafood has risen, but not by as much as some experts had expected.
China’s consumer price index rose just 1 percent in February 2023, while producer prices fell 1.4 percent, suggesting demand for goods in the domestic economy remains tepid even as China’s exports have faced weaker demand from Western markets beset by inflation.
China suffered a
… Read More
The flow of aquaculture technology and investment dollars into and out of China has shifted as the country has undergone a shift from a producer nation to a net importer of seafood.
China’s seafood industry has struggled in its efforts to expand abroad through acquisitions, but its overseas investments in greenfield projects in developing nations have found more success.
Bangkok, Thailand-based American consultant Lukas Manomaitis, who has
… Read More