City showcases its aquatic products

Zhanjiang has a mature maritime industrial chain, Zhan Lisheng reports.

The aquatic industry in the seaside city of Zhanjiang in South China's Guangdong province has already enjoyed a leading position in China, the annual trade fair of the China International Aquatic Products Exposition will show.

Dubbed China's "capital of prawns" and "capital of seafood delights", Zhanjiang has a mature aquatic industrial chain, especially for prawns and tilapia, said Tian Quanhai, chairman of the China Aquatic Production Chamber of Commerce under the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

"The expo allows the city to showcase its whole-chain technological solutions, equipment and products of the industry and benefits local aquatic enterprises in terms of new trade or investment relations and opportunities.

"It will thus better position Zhanjiang to take advantage of both the international and domestic markets and resources," he said.

Zhanjiang became a permanent venue for the expo in 2015, which the chairman attributed to the city government's strong support, the city's advantages for developing the aquatic industry and its capability to hold large international events.

In the southwest of Guangdong, the port city boasts a coastline of 1,556 km, which makes up half of the total in Guangdong and 20 percent in China.

Its beaches cover an area of over 486,667 hectares and mud flat over 100,000 hectares.

"That, plus a suitable temperature of over 15 C almost all year round, makes it an ideal place for aquaculture," said Cen Jian, secretary-general of Zhanjiang Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance.

Cen said Zhanjiang has topped any other city in China in terms of annual yield of prawns, post larvae and fodder, as well as shrimp processing capacity, exports and scale of wholesale markets thanks to decades of development and the local authorities' strong support.

The city has developed an unrivalled aquatic industrial chain nationwide ranging from breeding, sea farming, processing, fodder supply, fishing machinery and logistics and other services.

The city's prawn price index, the first of its kind, has become the barometer of China's prawn market.

Cen attributed much of the competitiveness of the sector to the R&D support from such research institutes as Guangzhou's South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and universities such as the Sun Yatsen University in Guangzhou and Guangdong Ocean University in Zhanjiang. The active participation of local aquatic companies in national and provincial-level R&D programs is another reason for the sector's competitiveness, Cen said.

The market leadership and industrial expertise have earned the city the title as demonstration base for upgrading the country's aquatic industry and the aquatic products trade, he said.

The city has passed 14 evaluations by the United States, the European Union, Japan, Russia and South Korea for quality supervision of aquatic products, winning a global reputation for the nation's aquatic industry.

"The aquatic sector plays a crucial role in the city's economic and social development," Cen said.

He said roughly 25 percent of the city's population is engaged in the industry, and the city supplies about 70 percent of the Chinese prawn market.

"Zhanjiang is transforming and upgrading its aquatic sector, aiming to become a major aquatic processing base and trade hub in the world," he said.

"While seeking orders from abroad, the city will also expand imports of aquatic products," Cen said. "And we will help raise local firms' awareness in branding and using e-commerce platforms."

"Pleasingly, a growing number of aquatic firms have initiated their branding campaigns and tried to sell online," he said, citing the Haifeng Aquatic Products Co and Guolian Aquatic Products Co as examples.

According to Cen, the city aims to produce 20 new varieties of prawn-related products this year, which are expected to reach an output of 100,000 metric tons and generate output value of 16 billion yuan ($2.44 billion) in 2016.

The city's aquatic sector reported domestic sales of 25 billion yuan and exports of $600 million in 2015, official statistics indicate.

Contact the writer at zhanlisheng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/30/2016 page6)