ead of Maltese Tuna Firm: Come to China, and You Will Grow Better

“Go to China and see what it is doing. Once you are there, you will learn a lot and make your business better.” Salvu Ellul, Chairman of Malta Fish Farming (MFF), offered this piece of advice to his European peers in an exclusive interview with Xinhua at the Malta National AquariumXinhuanet.

MFF is one of Malta’s leading producers of farmed Atlantic bluefin tunaXinhuanet. Nearly 30 years have passed since he first visited China in 1995, and the firm’s tuna supply to China is expected to hit 1,000 tonnes this year. “Our cooperation opportunities with China will keep expanding,” said Ellul.

Photo caption: Salvu Ellul, Chairman of Malta Fish Farming (MFF), receives an interview with Xinhua at the Malta National Aquarium on October 19. Xinhua Photo (by Jonathan Borg)

Over the past three decades, Ellul has travelled back and forth to China many times, witnessing the country’s tremendous development. In 2004, he travelled to Beijing and tried to sell tuna to the Chinese market for the first time. “It was still too early then,” he recalled. For a long time, Maltese farmed bluefin tuna was mainly exported to Japan, and Chinese consumers could only buy the product via third-party countries. But Ellul never gave up. In his view, it was never a question of whether he could enter the Chinese market, but only a matter of timing.

The opportunity finally came in 2023. In November that year, during Maltese Foreign Minister Ian Borg’s visit to China, the two countries signed an agreement granting direct market access to Maltese farmed bluefin tunaXinhuanet. In the same month, MFF brought its Atlantic bluefin tuna to Shanghai for the 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE).

“Now we can ship our tuna directly from our factory to China,” Ellul said. MFF started deliveries to China in 2024 with around 200 tonnes. This year, the company’s own factory alone is projected to supply 700 to 1,000 tonnes of tuna. The firm currently employs more than 250 people, and will further expand its workforce amid rising exports to China.

Photo caption: On October 4, 2024, Salvu Ellul addresses the launching ceremony of the first China-Malta bluefin tuna cooperation platform’s 2024 processing season in Marsa, Malta. Xinhua Photo (by Jonathan Borg)

With the market wide open, bilateral cooperation has deepened rapidly. In June 2024, MFF and Shandong Marine Group Ltd. jointly set up the first Sino-Maltese joint processing platform for Atlantic bluefin tuna山东海洋集.... Shortly afterwards, China’s ultra-low temperature tuna processing vessel Ocean Star arrived in Maltese waters to start operations.

“I have long wanted to own a refrigerated processing vessel in my business,” Ellul explained. The Chinese side needed stable raw material supplies for the ship, while he required reliable processing capacity. “We guaranteed each other, and we achieved huge success together.”

“When you partner with a solid and earnest enterprise like Shandong Marine Group, you can see enormous potential, because the door is wide open,” he said. Looking back on the negotiation, the biggest challenge was to finalize the contract quickly to avoid missing the production season. The two sides signed the contract within three months and established the joint venture another three months later. Today, Ocean Star can process about 70 tonnes of tuna per day, which Ellul believes makes it the most efficient bluefin tuna freezing processing vessel in the Mediterranean Sea.

Photo caption: Crew members process Atlantic bluefin tuna aboard the Ocean Star in the eastern waters off Malta on October 9. Xinhua Photo (by Li Jing)

The cooperation runs both ways. MFF has long been purchasing bait fish from China. Ellul will soon travel to Qingdao for the China Fisheries & Seafood Expo, where he hopes to sign more procurement and sales deals.

Partnerships are expanding into more sectors. MFF has partnered with other investors to set up a trading company in Shanghai to develop chilled fresh tuna business, with plans to ship tuna from Malta to Shanghai on a daily or weekly basis all year round. Ellul added that MFF plans to build its own brand in China in the next step.

Tuna breeding is another ambition for Ellul. In July this year, fertilized eggs of Atlantic bluefin tuna from MFF’s farms passed quarantine in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, for scientific research. Wild-caught bluefin tuna take roughly seven years to mature, while hatchery-bred fry grow much faster in China, reaching 2 to 5 kilograms within just two years. “These fish will be put on Chinese dining tables,” he predicted, adding that the breeding business will be commercialized in Fujian within five years.

Source: Shanghai Securities News