Guangdong's South China International Aquatic Trade Center is looking to take advantage of the China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) free trade agreement (FTA) by attracting more ASEAN businesses to the region, according to China Daily.
The center, launched in 2010, will soon be home to offices for Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore companies, to strengthen business ties with these Southeast Asian countries.
The offices will host business events to promote the trade of seafood from Southeast Asian countries.
With the launch of the China-ASEAN FTA in January 2010, tariffs on numerous products traded between the two were eliminated.
The Zhanjiang-based center serves as a one-stop trading platform that deals in frozen shrimp materials, freshly frozen seafood and fish-related pharmaceuticals and equipment. It also provides such services as freezing facilities, import and export, international trade fairs, andcold chain logistics.
It is recognized as a food safety demonstration center by the Bureau of Import and Export Food Safety under the General Administration of Quality Supervision,Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) of China.
In addition, the center has a section specially for the supply of seafood products to Hong Kong; a joint inspection center for import and export, a product testing center, third-party logistics management facilities and a number of bank branches.
The center covers an area of 33 hectares, with facilities in the first phase capable of producing 1,000 metric tons of ice and processing 100 metric tons of aquatic products daily.
One of the 50 key enterprises supported by city authorities, it receives investments from Zhanjiang Guotong, the parent company of the Shenzhen-listed shrimp giant Zhanjiang Guolian.
Zhanjiang Guolian sources shrimp material in large quantities from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia to be processed and exported to the United States.
Zhanjiang's coastal area consists of 557,000 hectares of shallow sea area, 520 types of fish, 547 types of shellfish and 28 types of shrimp with economic value. It ranks among the top cities in Guangdong in terms of seafood output, accounting for 40 percent of the shrimp output in Guangdong.