Stofnfiskur gets eggs to China for land-based projects despite coronavirus travel chaos

“It’s been a challenging time”.  Stofnfiskur last week shipped Atlantic salmon ova out of Iceland for delivery to customers in China.

In a press release, Benchmark Genetics company Stofnfiskur writes that a consignment, consisting of almost 400,000 eggs, was sent from Reykjavik on April 16 and arrived safely in Beijing the following day.

A quality check was made on arrival, and then the boxes were dispatched and further sent on domestic flights for delivery to three different customers. Two of the customers of the egg producer are operating land-based farms, and a third is cage-farming in a freshwater lake.

This is the second delivery of ova to China after the coronavirus crisis excelled in Europa in mid-March.

Robert Rúnarsson, Global Sales Manager of Benchmark Genetics. PHOTO: Benchmark Genetics

“The aquaculture companies that run full-cycle land-based production also require deliveries every single month of the year, and we are proud to be able to fulfil their needs,” said Robert Rúnarsson, Global Sales Manager of Benchmark Genetics.

“It’s been a challenging time,” elaborated Commercial Director of Benchmark Genetics Geir Olav Melingen to SalmonBusiness. Iceland managed to send the eggs to China via London. He said quick thinking was needed as cancellations and changes of flights are made on short notice.

Eggs are bagged up with double ice which gives them an extra buffer.

Geir Olav Melingen. PHOTO: Benchmark Genetics

Melingen said he regretted that he could not give the names of the clients but SalmonBusiness has reported on several large salmon farming projects in China such as Shenlan 1 in the Yellow Sea.

“Looking ahead, In the future, we expect huge demand for landbased in China,” he said noting that Pure Salmon has plans for example,” added Melingen. We expect huge landbased in China. Though I am not sure how the virus will affect timing. Maybe a slight delay. We expect volumes (for landbased) should start to increase by 2021-2022″.

Newsletter

Related Articles