On May 18, the 2024 Shenzhen International Fishery Expo Tuna Industry High-Quality Development Forum was held, and Chinese and foreign guests discussed and exchanged views on key fishery areas such as tuna industry, consumption, culture, international cooperation, and resource protection.
How is the tuna industry developing globally, and what are the opportunities and challenges? The Shenzhen International Tuna Trading Center was officially put into operation this year, how will it build international competitiveness?
In this regard, Shenzhen Satellite TV's "Evening Report" column invited Bill Holden, director of the Global Tuna Program of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), and Huang Fuxiong, president of the Guangdong Pelagic Fisheries Association, to interpret it.
Loading...
Tuna sings the "highlight" of Shenzhen Fishery Expo
At the 2024 Shenzhen International Fishery Expo, a "fish cutting show" staged by bigeye tuna, bluefin tuna, and yellowfin tuna under the smooth knife work of the masters, and related tasting, gifting and procurement activities detonated the audience.
During this period, the first transaction of this fishery expo was released, and the two sides reached a purchase intention of 1090 tons of purse seine tuna, with a transaction amount of 2 million US dollars. At the "Reverse Procurement Transaction Matchmaking Meeting" held for the first time at the Fishery Expo, buyers and suppliers also gained a lot.
On May 18, the Fishery Expo held a high-quality development forum of the tuna industry with the theme of "win-win cooperation and joint planning for the high-quality development of the tuna industry", and invited upstream and downstream enterprises, buyers, industry associations, well-known experts and scholars of the tuna industry chain at home and abroad to gather together to conduct in-depth discussions and analysis on topics such as the analysis of the global tuna farming industry and the recent development and opportunities of the sustainable tuna market.
It is understood that there are currently more than 85 countries in the world that have commercial tuna fisheries. Since 1985, when the mainland started distant-water fishery cooperation with other countries, it has actively participated in and fulfilled its obligations for the conservation and performance of tuna resources, and urged its tuna fishing enterprises to continuously improve the level of green and sustainable development.
As one of the important cities involved in the commercial tuna fishery, Shenzhen's tuna industry continues to grow. The holding of this forum will help Shenzhen build an international fishing trading and distribution center, and help Shenzhen build a creative modern fishery capital.
Global tuna industry
With opportunities come challenges
Commenting on the opportunities and challenges facing the tuna industry in its global development, Bill Holden, Director of the Global Tuna Programme at the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), said that over the past two decades, with the advancement of technology, the tuna industry has formed a global market, but with opportunities comes challenges.
Bill Holden pointed out that at the fishery level, the supply chain level and the management organization level, governments, industries and enterprises need to strengthen cooperation and communication to form a consensus to ensure sustainable tuna resources in the future.
"The holding of this forum will raise everyone's understanding of tuna and contribute to the development of the tuna industry in Shenzhen and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area." Bill Holden said.
Shenzhen is accelerating
Construction of a national distant-water fishing base and an international tuna trading center
Adhering to the practice of "big food concept" and "advancing into the deep blue" as a major development strategy, Shenzhen is developing deep-sea fisheries with high quality and high standards to enrich the "vegetable basket" of the people.
Two months ago, with the lifting of three distant-water fishing vessels at DaChan Bay Wharf, Shenzhen ushered in the first batch of distant-water self-caught tuna this year, with a total of 150 tons, the largest of which is more than 300 catties.
At present, Shenzhen is accelerating the construction of a national distant-water fishery base and an international tuna trading center, focusing on building a global mid-to-high-end aquatic product trading experience area in the DaChan Bay Port Area, gradually building a high-end aquatic product quality system represented by tuna, and building a third-party "cross-border supply chain ecosystem" that is shared and win-win by all parties.
Among them, the Shenzhen International Tuna Trading Center was officially put into operation this year. The trading center is mainly based on tuna and other high-end aquatic product trading services, aiming to provide customers with trading services from storage to trading (auction), logistics, display and consumption, and intends to build "six centers", namely tuna logistics center, pricing center, settlement center, standard center, big data center and financial center.
As early as May 2023, the Shenzhen International Tuna Trading Center system has been launched and the "first auction" has been held.
At present, the online platform of the trading center has attracted many fishery enterprises, aquatic product trading enterprises and distributors to settle in the platform, and in the future, it is planned to introduce 300 main trading customers including fishery production enterprises, processing enterprises and traders, and will gradually build a high-end aquatic product trading and settlement center with global influence, competing for international tuna pricing power and discourse.
The tuna industry chain is long
The global value of production is about 150 million US dollars
As a high-end aquatic product, what are the characteristics of tuna? What kind of industrial chain has been formed around tuna?
Huang Fuxiong, president of the Guangdong Provincial Ocean Fisheries Association, said that tuna is a high-end ingredient, with a protein content of 1.5-2.5 times that of beef, which is a healthy ingredient. In Europe, the United States, and Japan, tuna food is one of the recommended food products for elementary and junior high school students entering restaurants.
Huang Fuxiong pointed out that the industrial chain of tuna is very long, from fishing, onshore processing to market sales, it can form a 1-3 level of industry, sales, and market end of the whole industry chain model. Currently, the global tuna industry is worth about US$150 million.
It is understood that the mainland's tuna industry started in 1991, and after more than 30 years of development, it has occupied a place in the global tuna market. With the improvement of people's living standards and the development of markets, major cities such as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta have more and more consumption capacity for tuna. In the next step, from the production end to the consumption end, tuna will also gradually expand the share of the domestic market.
When it comes to the Shenzhen International Tuna Trading Center, Huang Fuxiong believes that it is a platform that can communicate with the production, market and sales ends. Shenzhen is building a global marine center city and the core engine city of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which has a consumer group of 120 million people in the entire Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and a huge consumer group of 17 million people in Shenzhen.
In addition, Shenzhen is an international city, and for tuna, an international product, the operation of the trading center can better reflect the international attributes and play a bridgehead role in the industry.
Conclusion: According to the statistics of relevant research institutions, the mainland will consume about 80,000 tons of tuna in 2023, and it is expected to reach more than 210,000 tons in 2030. However, there is still a long way to go compared to the traditional production and marketing of tuna. At present, Shenzhen's tuna catch has exceeded half of Guangdong's, and it is believed that with the cultivation of the market, the promotion of terminals, and the gradual construction of the supply chain ecosystem, it will accelerate to further win more international tuna pricing power and discourse.
Writer: Li Jian
Editor-in-chief: Lv Yubin Yin Meng
Reporter: Nie Shuangshuang, Liu Fengxuan, Xiao Jun
Editor: Zhang Xueying