China continues improving relations with Phillippines with massive aquaculture investment

China-based Fangyuan Shipbuilding Co. is investing CNY 3 billion (USD 437 million, EUR 408 million) in an aquaculture and processing project in the Philippines intended to supply the Chinese market.

Headquartered in Zheijiang province on China’s east coast, Fangyuan plans fish farms involving 3,000 hectares and 10,000 workers. The firm builds vessels for Chinese fishing firms but hasn’t had any seafood operations of its own to date.

It’s not clear whether the deal is part of a Chinese pledge – as reported by SeafoodSource – to assist the Philippines aquaculture sector in return for an end to protests over China’s territorial claim to the South China Sea and the building of Chinese islands off the Philippine coast.

The warm waters surrounding the Philippines have become a sourcing base for Chinese favorites like sea cucumber and tropical fish like grouper, which are controversially over-fished.

China’s largely state-owned shipbuilding sector – the world’s largest – continues to suffer from overcapacity in a crowded marketplace.

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