New Agreement to Normalize Relations between Norway and China could Revolutionize Salmon Market
Norway and China signed a joint statement in Beijing this week to normalize the relations between the two countries. Reports from Norway's salmon industry say the agreement can be a game changer since it should help reverse a years-long disruption in Norway's salmon exports to China. The disruption started in 2010 after Norway awarded a Nobel Prize to a Chinese dissident. China protested by sanctioning some of Norway's exports, including salmon. Marine Harvest's stock jumped on the news, with the valuation of the company now at a record high.
We run a response from John Williams, the Executive Director ofSouthernthern Shrimp Alliance, who takes issue with some of the comments John Sackton published last week in our response to Bloomberg's "Bad Shrimp" cover story in Business Week. The SSA was one of the sources for the article.
In other news, Congress has passed two key pieces of legislation that advance the possibility for Nome, Alaska to get an artic deep draft port. The two laws, the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (or WIIN) Act, and the National Defense Authorization Act, both contain provisions for the construction of the port.
Meanwhile, China will construct a massive fish processing center in the Jilin province that is expected to produce more fish with specs specifically for export to the Russian market. The new cluster will be located within the boundaries of the city of Hunchun and will comprise of over 10 plants.
Finally, Prince Edward Island's seafood processing industry supports proposed federal changes to the temporary foreign workers program. The government plans to scrap the limit of how long temporary foreign workers could stay in Canada. The feds also announced that seasonal industries, such as seafood processing, are exempt from a cap on temporary foreign workers for up to 180 days in 2017. "One of the challenges to staff a plant is to find quality employees that are familiar with the industry so when their time limit would run out for a temporary worker we would then have to go through the whole process to retain another one," said Dennis King, executive director of the P.E.I. Seafood Processors Association.
Make sure to check out our latest podcast, which can be downloaded or streamed to iPhone and Andriod mobile devices through iTunes, Google Play or SoundCloud. In our latest show, talk about how this year's spike in FDA refusals and a poor fishing season are setting up mahi to disappear from the market in 2017. Plus, Oregon finally gets Dungeness fishing underway; the lobster industry continues to puzzle participants; Iceland's fishermen go back on strike and Thailand issues its shrimp production forecast for 2017.
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