BRUNEI-MUARA – Aquaculture products from Brunei Darussalam’s Pelumpong site will be available online in China with access to 350 million active users through one of China’s biggest e-commerce platform, JD.com.
On Saturday, two Brunei fishery companies — Pure Fresh (B) Sdn Bhd and Tong See Products (B) Sdn Bhd — were granted the role as JD.com’s first overseas off coast fresh farm, with the Chinese e-commerce giant banking on the sultanate’s clean and green environment to meet China’s rising demands for quality seafood.
Pure Fresh is a shrimp processing operator in Serasa while Tong Kee is an offshore seacage culture company operating at Tanjong Pelumpong, mainly rearing marine fishes such as grouper and sea bass.
Executive Vice President at Pure Fresh said that with JD.com as their strategic partner in the Chinese e-commerce business, the growth Brunei Darussalam’s aquaculture and seafood industry is imminent as aquaculture products from the Pelumpong site can now be marketed through JD.com.
“With the opening of this new channel, it also provides a window of opportunity for our farms to expand further, to strive for farming high quality seafood products to meet the huge demand.
“With our processing capability, we are not limited to providing live products but also providing processed valued-added seafood product options to Chinese customers,” he said.
Senior Manager at JD.com Zhao Yu, said that the close collaboration with Pure Fresh and Tong Kee — who will combine their respective resources to meet the Chinese market — will open up a platform for overseas direct purchasing in Brunei.
In an interview with The Scoop, he said that JD.com has seven cold storage warehouses that caters to 280 cities in China. Due to this, Bruneian seafood products can be shipped in advance to their warehouses, reaching customers’ doorsteps fresh and not later than 24 hours upon order.
“Brunei has the renown reputation of [having a] pollution free environment, and so far, we have found [Brunei] to be very suitable for seafood processing and development.
“The development of the [Chinese] economy has caused more and more people to demand for good quality and safe products and based on this, it means that the quality seafood here in Brunei is much more suitable for the market demand in China.”
He added that JD.com is also keen on working with more Brunei seafood producers in the future.
Meanwhile, the minister of Primary Resources and Tourism, YB Dato Seri Setia Hj Ali Apong said that with the network that has been established with JD.com, seafood producers in Brunei will not need to worry about the sultanate’s small domestic market.
“The China market alone is big, this gives us an advantage where our growth [in terms of aquaculture and seafood production] has no limits, now there is no excuse [for seafood producer] to not branch out into the export market, but the quality of their products must be consistent.”
Last year, Pure Fresh and Tong Kee produced 39 tonnes of blue shrimp and a 100 tonnes of marine fish valued at USD$600,000 and USD$420,000 respectively.
JD.com has a strict zero-tolerance policy towards counterfeit goods, ensuring quality and authenticity to its customers. It has the largest e-commerce logistics infrastructure in China covering 99 percent of the country’s population enabling customers to buy whatever, whenever and wherever they want.