| James Kon |
PURE Fresh International Holdings Limited and Ghanim International Corporation Sdn Bhd yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a strategic partnership for overall aquaculture development and the processing of seafood for export to China’s massive market.
The MoU has also paved the way for the establishment of a larger-scale processing centre for blue shrimp and other seafood, a hatchery for the breeding of blue shrimp, aquaculture farms and a laboratory for the testing of physical, chemical and microbiological properties.
More than BND400 million will be allocated for the projects which will be implemented in phases over a period of five years.
Pure Fresh International Holdings Limited has already set up its first Southeast Asian processing centre near Muara Port, in collaboration with Ghanim International Corporation Sdn Bhd. The processing centre, costing more than BND10 million, has been in operation since April 2018, processing blue shrimps for export to China.
Held at The Empire Hotel & Country Club, the signing ceremony was witnessed by Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah and Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Brunei Yang Jian.
Chief Executive Officer Dr Nur Rahman signed on behalf of Ghanim International Corporation Sdn Bhd as Director Junaidi bin Haji Masri witnessed.
Meanwhile, Pure Fresh was represented by its Chief Executive Officer Chen Cuiying with Chairman Chen Jian Tao as witness.
Dr Nur Rahman told the Bulletin, “This MoU is an alignment of two businesses, creating an integrated relations and focus on specific items. We know exactly what to do to capitalise on Brunei’s clean and safe environment, and its quality blue shrimp and seafood.”
Over the next few months, he explained, “We will be mitigating all the issues in hatchery breeding and growth. Pure Fresh has been working with a number of growers and a number of local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are already supplying to their processing plant at the Muara Fish Landing Complex area. We can engage more growers and entrepreneurs to come into play, as the demand is huge.”
On the massive markets and opportunities, he said, “Besides China, Singapore and Malaysia, Australia and Japan are also interested to buy blue shrimps from us. Our challenge is to grow more and sell more. It’s an opportunity for local growers and we hope to capitalise on this. With the processing plant in Muara, we can supply eight containers a month easily, as long as we have the raw materials.”
Director of Pure Fresh Eyan Ou said, “We are committed to take part in the development vision of Brunei, to enhance the viable value chain and reliable exports, to safeguard the future of the industry.”
Since the beginning of their partnership with Ghanim, he said, “We have successfully exported blue shrimp and other Halal products, with more in the coming months, as we continue to work together on other projects to meet the huge demands from China and other countries.”
He also added, “With the bruneihalalfoods brand, we see that there are massive opportunities for us not only in China, but also in the Muslim world and in Western countries. Despite the challenges, the opportunities are much bigger. We will do our best to work with Ghanim and local SMEs.”