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
China’s average tariff on seafood is well below the level for most other food imports, according to a review by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The trade policy report was issued 12 June in advance of the WTO’s Trade Policy Review on China at WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, from 17 to 19 July.
What the WTO terms the “simple average tariff on fish and fishery products” was 6.8 percent in 2024, with
… Read More
The Irish government recently announced a quota of 150 work permits as part of a new work permit scheme for immigrant fishery workers.
The plan is a “significant improvement” on the scheme it replaces, according to Michael O’Brien, head of the Fisheries Section at the Dublin offices of the International Transport Workers’ Federation.
The plan allows Irish fishing companies to hire workers from outside the European Union
… Read More
Prominent Chinese seafood executives are going public with their ambitions to expand their aquaculture and mariculture operations in Southeast Asia.
Speaking on “Dialogue,” a flagship program of the China Central Television (CCTV) 2 channel, Guangdong Evergreen Group CEO Chen Dan said his company is looking into growing its Southeast Asia aquaculture operations. Guangdong Evergreen is a conglomerate which produces and processes fish,
… Read More
Chinese officials recently announced the country will cancel subsidies to a number of distant-water fishing companies that do not meet standards set by the 2022 World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Fishery Subsidies.
China formally accepted the agreement in June of 2023. According to the WTO, it is one of 52 countries that have signed onto the deal; two-thirds of WTO member countries, or 110 in total, need to sign in order for the deal to
… Read More
IFFO has responded to a report accusing the organization as being rife with conflicts of interest.
The report by environment-focused news website DeSmog, “Revealed: Industry-led West Africa Fishery Protection Measures Marred By ‘Massive Conflicts of Interest,” accused IFFO’s sustainability initiatives, including the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients and the MarinTrust certification program – ostensibly
… Read More
China’s seafood prices rose 1.2 percent in June compared to the same month of 2023.
The country's consumer price index overall rose 0.2 percent in June – a far cry from inflation levels seen in other major economies. Overall price growth has slumped across the Chinese economy as the country’s real estate sector remains in the doldrums and export markets raise tariffs against an influx of cheap Chinese goods.
The latest
… Read More
Sino Jet, which describes itself as Asia-Pacific's leading business jet management company, has entered a partnership with Chunan Qiandaohu Xunlong Import and Export Co., the producer of Kaluga Queen Caviar.
Hong Kong-based Sino Jet Management operates a fleet of 15 aircraft, including a jet that the company manages on behalf of action movie star Jackie Chan. The company is owned by mainland Chinese investment firm Tsinghua Holdings, a
… Read More
A Chinese airline has introduced a new freight service, enabling the air-freighting of farmed salmon from Norway.
The Nanchang-Oslo service, operated by Capital Airlines using an Airbus A330, will bring e-commerce deliveries to Norway for Scandinavian customers and pick up Norwegian salmon for the return journey. It's the first direct air-freight service connecting China and Oslo, according to China's civil aviation regulatory authority.
… Read More