US largest seafood company wants to sell Alaska fish directly to China

SAN FRANCISCO - The US largest seafood company, Trident Seafoods, is changing its strategy to sell Alaska seafood directly to China, a media report said Tuesday.

Trident Seafoods has been selling fish in China for 20 years, but many Chinese consumers don't recognize the company's three-pronged logo nor know its products as a brand, according to an online report by Alaska's Energy Desk.

The company is working on a new strategy to change its way of selling Alaska seafood only as a commodity in China, and instead wants to bring wild Alaska seafood directly to Chinese consumers via stores or markets to boost the presence of its own brand.

Jeff Welbourn, senior director of the Chinese Business Office for Trident Seafoods, made a recent trip to China to talk with Chinese business partners about getting their products into some new markets.

Per capita consumption of seafood in China is mind-boggling, as the Chinese people consume an estimate of only 40 kilograms of seafood per person every year, he said.

A lot of Alaska pollock is already being consumed in China, but Chinese citizens likely don't realize that it is wild and from Alaska, Welbourn noted.

Welbourn and his team were cooperating with Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, which has about 300 million active users, trying to expand the sale of Trident's seafood on its website, where Chinese consumers can get their order of wild seafood from Alaska with only clicks of the mouse.

Trident Seafoods has already sent a team with Alaska Governor Bill Walker's trade mission to China, which began on May 26, to explore more business opportunities.