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 THAILAND
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Charoen Pokphand Foods Pcl , Thailand's largest agribusiness
company, raised $290 million in Thursday's sale of five-year
exchangeable bonds, according o a term sheet for the deal seen by
Reuters on Friday.
The company, flagship of unlisted Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group),
owned by Thailand's richest man Dhanin Chearavanont, sold the 0.5
percent coupon bonds through a unit called CP Foods Holdings Ltd to
yield 2.75 percent, the terms showed.
The bonds will be exchangeable into shares of CP All Pcl , Thailand's
largest convenience store operator that is also controlled by
Chearavanont's CP Group. They were sold at an exchange premium of 30
percent to CP All's closing price of 41 baht on Thursday.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Phatra Securities managed the deal.
Sorce: Reuters
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 UNITED KINGDOM
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Fishing quota changes introduced by the EU have sparked alarm in Wales
Fishermen in Wales are worried about the future of their industry as a result of quota changes introduced by the European Union.
They claim they have been seriously disadvantaged by a move away from
a common pool of quota available to all UK fishermen in their category
to one where the common pool has been divided among the home nations on
the basis of historic track records.
Jeremy Percy, chief executive of the New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association, said that Wales had been seriously disadvantaged.
In an article for the Institute of Welsh Affairs’ journal The Welsh
Agenda, he wrote: “Our primary reliance on shellfish over the years
means that we have little effective track record on finfish quota
species.
“While this may not have an immediate impact on the majority of
fishers, it will significantly restrict their vital ability to diversify
fishing effort as markets change and species composition in Welsh
waters varies over time.”
Under EU rules a distinction has traditionally been made between
fishing vessels of more than 10 metres in length, and those below that
length.
Mr Percy states: “Historically, the over 10 metre fleet were originally provided with log books to record their daily catches.
“Despite asking repeatedly to be treated in the same way, the under
10 metre fleet were refused log books and told that as their efforts
made little impact on stocks, they should just carry on without any
effective reporting requirements.
“This has led to the current situation where the over 10 sector
receives 96% of the UK quota, with under 10s getting the remaining 4%.
“This was all very well until 2005, as the under 10s were largely ignored and allowed to fish on without undue regulation.
“However, at that point the EU introduced a new system that required
first sale buyers of quota species from the under 10 fleet to record and
report their purchases.
“The resultant information appears to have come as something of a
surprise to officials, as it showed this sector of the industry actually
caught relatively significant amounts of quota species. A
“As a result there was a swift reduction in the quotas allocated
which then pushed many smaller scale fishers who were reliant on access
to quota species either out of business or into non quota species such
as bass and shellfish.”
Wales has a total registered fishing fleet of 479 vessels, 440 of
which are less than 10 metres in length. About 95% of these vessels rely
primarily on shellfish rather than pursuing finfish quota species
Source: WalesOnLine
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 UNITED STATES
Friday, January 10, 2014
KODIAK, Alaska — The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) says it's taking steps to counter inflammatory stories on websites that claim Alaska-caught salmon is unsafe.
ASMI communications director Tyson Fick says the institute has seen a
resurgence of unsubstantiated, scaremongering articles designed to
generate advertising revenue by curious readers clicking on websites.
Fick tells the Kodiak Daily Mirror ( http://bit.ly/1crItqr)
that the latest wave of misinformation claims Alaska fish has been
contaminated by radiation from a Japanese nuclear power plant damaged in
a 2011 earthquake.
Fick says ASMI previously have countered misinformation that Alaska salmon contained mercury or PCBs.
He says ASMI refers people to the Food and Drug Administration
website. The FDA has found has no evidence of dangerous Fukushima
radiation in the U.S. food supply.
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
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 NAMIBIA
Friday, January 10, 2014
THE fishing industry is embroiled in a battle to delay a seismic
survey exercise planned for next month by a Norwegian company in
Namibian waters since they regard the timing as coinciding with the peak
of the fishing season.
Spectrum ASA, the company that is proposing to conduct a 2D seismic
survey in the Orange Basin off the coast of Namibia, says the survey
area would be approximately 1 485 km in length and cover about 26 500
km².
Persistence from the survey firm to carry out the test comes a few
months after government endorsed a task force recommendation, which
suggested that companies should refrain from carrying out off-shore
exploration in February and March, which is the main season for tuna.
Seismic testing involves bouncing sound waves off undersea rock formations to detect oil and gas deposits.
The Namibian fishing industry and their line ministry also face
another headache since there is a planned seismic survey planned for on
the South
Source: AllAfrica
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 NORWAY
Friday, January 10, 2014
HAVFISK
reported in a stock exchange notice 9 December 2013 that the
Directorate of Fisheries had reallocated quotas to all trawlers. The
Directorate of Fisheries decided to stop the fishing on this reallocated
quota on 22 December 2013. Prior to this stop, HAVFISK had managed to
fish a substantial amount of the reallocated quota. The reallocation of
quota and good operations in the fourth quarter of 2013 will give
HAVFISK an increased EBITDA for 2013 compared to 2012.
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UNITED STATES
Friday, January 10, 2014
The world’s largest tuna companies are making a splash in
Washington with a fight over rules that keep some catches out of school
lunches.
StarKist and Tri Marine are clashing with Bumble Bee and Chicken of
the Sea over the Agriculture Department’s strict Buy American standards
for where tuna is cleaned, canned and shipped.
Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea lose under the rules. Both
companies have facilities that process tuna in the United States, but
their product is also cleaned overseas. Under the USDA standards, their
tuna cannot be served in schools, denying them access to a lucrative
market.
StarKist, on the other hand, has a major operation in the U.S.
territory of American Samoa. Tri Marine is building up a new facility in
the territory as well.
The two factions are sparring over language in the House agricultural
appropriations bill that would require the USDA to issue a report on
how the department could revise its Buy American standards, including
“the option for less than 100 percent of the value of the tuna product
be United States produced.”
The language could be slipped into the omnibus spending bill that
lawmakers aim to release sometimes this week. If it becomes law, that
report could clear the way for Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea to
begin selling to schools.
Source: The Hill
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UNITED STATES
Friday, January 10, 2014
The University of Michigan
(U-M) today became the first Big Ten university to achieve Marine
Stewardship Council (MSC) Chain of Custody certification as part of its
overall commitment to offer sustainable food on campus. U-M’s Michigan
Dining has earned certification to support sustainably managed fisheries
by sourcing MSC certified seafood that can be traced back to a fishery
that has been certified against the rigorous, science-based MSC
standard.
Michigan Dining will offer MSC certified seafood in five residential
dining halls on campus including East Quad, North Quad, Marketplace,
Markley Hall and Bursley Hall. Michigan Dining serves 3.5 million meals
per year in its residential dining halls to over 9,000 students living
on campus and the wider campus community. Seafood comprises 10% of menu
items, which now feature MSC certified Alaska Pacific cod, U.S. Alaska
pollock and Oregon pink shrimp.
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UNITED STATES
Friday, January 10, 2014
SeafoodGrabber
is the first B2B networking site that accumulates and organizes prices
from wholesale seafood suppliers, and then displays unique pricing to
each buyer. The online marketplace borrows the best traits from business
networking and e-commerce sites, to create a new way for wholesale
seafood buyers and suppliers to do business. SeafoodGrabber streamlines
how unique pricing information is sent to buyers, standardizes how
products are listed, and displays suppliers pricing side-by-side so that
buyers can review prices in an easy to compare format.
SeafoodGrabber's platform allows wholesale seafood buyers and
suppliers to network with each other and establish virtual connections.
It's through these connections that suppliers send unique and customized
pricing to each of their buyers. Buyers can view pricing for all of
their seafood, from all of their suppliers, in real time and in an easy
to compare format. The online marketplace simplifies how wholesale
business is done by removing the need for suppliers to constantly e-mail
PDF's, Excel files, and fax pricing lists to each of their customers.
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UNITED KINGDOM
Friday, January 10, 2014
Aquaculture equipment specialist Fusion Marine has successfully
completed a major fish farm pen order for a bass and bream farming
operation in Malta.
The contract – worth over 300,000 euros – for leading Maltese fish
farming company Pisciculture Marine De Malte Ltd (widely known as P2M)
has resulted in the successful installation of 19 Oceanflex and five
Aquaflex pens at their farm site on the north side of the Mediterranean
island.
In a project supported by the European Fisheries Fund (EFF), P2M has
completely refurbished and upgraded its farm site by replacing old
rubber pens with a modern ultra-tough Fusion Marine polyethylene
constructed farming system.
These 60m Oceanflex and 40m Aquaflex three-ring pens are ideal for
exposed farming locations, with their durable and flexible construction
designed to withstand extreme weather conditions.
The Aquaflex and Oceanflex pens were assembled in Valetta Harbour
aided by Fusion Marine engineers, with P2M overseeing the logistical
operation to ensure the pens were safely installed on their farm site.
Fusion Marine’s Malta based aquaculture consultant, Professor Carmelo
Agius, also played a key role in ensuring the overall success of the
project.
P2M was founded in 1990 and has grown into the country’s leading fish
farm operator producing over 1,000 tonnes of quality sea bass, bream
and meagre per annum, and employing more than 40 people between its farm
and processing operations. The fish are sold whole on ice to the
European Union, principally Italy.
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 VIET NAM
Friday, January 10, 2014
Vinh Hoan Corporation (Vinh Hoan Corp) has obtained the GlobalGAP
certificate for its barramundi farm in BaTri district in Ben Tre
province. This is the first barramundi farm which was certified by
GlobalGAP in Vietnam. The farm covers an total area of 60 hectares,
providing around 500 MT of raw barramundi per year.
Since 2010, Vinh Hoan Corp has applied GlobalGAP standards, which
require a green and sustainable fish production, to its farms for
pangasius fingerlings, commercial pangasius, feed mill and processing
plants. GlobalGAP certified barramundi products are to diversify
sustainable fishery products of Vinh Hoan as well as provide consumers
with green and safe products.
Source: VASEP |
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SENEGAL