Saving Seafood

US Court of International Trade orders second look at China tariffs

April 5, 2022 — The U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) has ordered the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to take a second look at its decision making on thousands of Section 301 tariffs levied against Chinese goods.

The 71-page decision by the court, released 1 April, 2022, stems from a lawsuit filed in 2020 by a company that specializes in vinyl flooring. Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S.A.-based HMTX Industries and its affiliated companies filed a complaint with the CIT challenging the authority of former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and the “unlawful escalation” of the trade war with China.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Study links 59 percent of industrial fishing offenses to Chinese vessels

March 30, 2022 — At least one-third of all recorded fishery offenses are associated with industrial fishing vessels – specifically just 20 companies and 450 industrial fishing vessels – and over half of the industrial offenses have Chinese beneficial ownership.

According to “Fish Crimes in the Global Oceans,” prepared for ocean conservation group Oceana and published in Science Advances, 59 percent of offences in the industrial fishing sector are related to Chinese owned vessels. Fifteen percent were tied to Indonesian vessels and 12 percent were associated with South Korean vessels.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Unibond CEO challenges conclusions of study on Chinese processing

March 30, 2022 — A Chinese seafood industry executive has taken issue with a report by a group of Norwegian and U.S. academics that suggested mislabeling is commonplace in the huge Chinese seafood processing industry.

Unibond Seafood International CEO David Jiang said the data and conclusions in the report, “China’s Seafood Imports – Not for Domestic Consumption?” are incorrect because they don’t take into account the percentage of the fish volume reduced in processing.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

U.S. reinstates China seafood tariff exclusions

March 28, 2022 — The United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced it has reinstated tariff exclusions on 352 products, including several seafood products facing additional tariffs on import from China.

The administration of President Joe Biden announced in October 2021 that the USTR would begin taking comments on whether the U.S. should renew tariff exceptions for 549 products from China, which the government chose to let expire. Initially, the USTR extended tariff exclusions on multiple seafood products in 2020.

“The Office of the United States Trade Representative today announced its determination to reinstate certain previously granted and extended product exclusions in the China Section 301 Investigation,” the USTR announced. “The reinstated product exclusions will apply as of October 12, 2021, and extend through December 31, 2022.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

USTR reinstates expired tariff exclusions for certain seafood products

March 24, 2022 — The United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced it has reinstated tariff exclusions on 352 products, including several seafood products facing additional tariffs on import from China.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden announced in October 2021 that the USTR would begin taking comments on whether the U.S. should renew tariff exceptions for 549 products from China, which the government chose to let expire. Initially, the USTR extended tariff exclusions on multiple seafood products in 2020.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

WTO sets new date for discussions on deal to limit fishing subsidies

March 24, 2022 — The WTO has rescheduled its 12th Ministerial Conference for the week of 13 June, 2022, with a deal to limit fishery subsidies a key item on the agenda.

It comes as China has upped its subsidies to the country’s biggest state-owned tuna fishing firms while Greenpeace has sounded the alarm at the increased threat to marine biodiversity from growing distant-water fleets.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

China’s ongoing COVID lockdowns threaten Maine’s baby eel season

March 22, 2022 — Warm weather this spring may boost catches of lucrative baby eels in Maine, but the ongoing effects of the covid pandemic still could hamper the global availability of the popular seafood item.

An abundance of eels during Maine’s 11-week elver season, which starts Tuesday, may not be able to overcome pandemic-related difficulties in shipping the eels to eastern Asia, where most elvers caught in Maine are raised to adulthood in aquaculture ponds in China and then sold into the enormous Japanese seafood market.

“As of now, the biggest challenge facing the industry this season will be the logistics of getting eels to their ultimate destinations,” said Mitchell Feigenbaum, a major distributor of Maine eels. “A severe COVID outbreak in Hong Kong combined with strict import controls have created great uncertainty in the market as the season prepares to open.”

China has maintained a “COVID zero” policy that in recent weeks has resulted in the country locking down areas where outbreak of the disease are detected, which potentially could inhibit the ability to ship Maine elvers to Chinese aquaculture sites. Because elvers have to be shipped live, the possibility of shipments being delayed and elvers dying en route can make things “very risky” for dealers, Feigenbaum said.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

China faces big choice on Russia when it comes to seafood, and beyond

March 16, 2022 — Sanctions on Russian trade imposed by the U.S., European Union, and the U.K. on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine are likely to have a major impact on global seafood trade, including trade with China, according to Lotus Seafood CEO Nick Ovchinnikov.

Lotus Seafood is an Oceanside, California, U.S.A.-based seafood trader that is undergoing a transformation from providing commodity seafood to specializing in frozen value-added meals. Ovchinnikov relocated his business from Russia to California 10 years ago.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

US firms aim to “re-shore” seafood processing from China

March 16, 2022 — Mounting supply-chain difficulties are creating opportunities for U.S. processors to re-shore work that previously was performed abroad.

In China, where the bulk of processing of seafood products eventually exported to the United States was once completed, a shift is underway. Companies that previously focused on exports are discovering they can make better returns in the domestic market, according to Cui He, the secretary general of the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Association (CAPPMA). Cui also cited China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related logistical and transportation issues that have slowed production and delivery times for the country’s seafood processing sector.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource