Cross-Strait Milkfish Purchase Contract Not to Be Renewed

 Cross-Strait Milkfish Purchase Contract Not to Be Renewed

Source: China Times

April 6, 2016

The Tainan City Aquaculture Association signed in 2011 a contract to export milkfish to the Mainland over a period of five years.  The contract will expire this year.  The Tainan City Aquaculture Association and the Mainland decided not to renew the contract due to various considerations.

In 2011, Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中), then deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office under the Mainland’s State Council, brokered a five-year contract for Tainan’s Shinejia (學甲) District to export milkfish to the Mainland at NT$ 40-45 per Taiwanese catty (600 grams).  The association and Taiwan’s Shinejia Foods Company (學甲食品) signed a three-year contract with the Mainland’s Shanghai Fisheries General Corp (Group) (上海水產集團), and a two-year contract with the Mainland’s Haikui Seafood Group (海魁集團).

There are approximately 700  milkfish aquaculture operators in Shinejia (學甲) District, and 208 of them exported milkfish to the Mainland under this scheme.  It costs NT$ 32-36 to raise every catty of milkfish, but milkfish sell for just NT$ 30-35 per catty in local markets.  Consequently, as the cross-Strait milkfish purchase contract will soon expire without being renewed, the aquaculture operators face a bleak future.    

Attachment : none