Acorn International, Inc. (NYSE: ATV) recently announced that it has begun offering high quality seafood to Chinese consumers through its newly established Acorn Fresh business. As Executive Chairman of Acorn and a co-founder of IS Seafood, I am extremely excited about this partnership. IS Seafood employs a network of industry-leading cold chain logistics specialists and uses state of the art processing and packaging techniques to deliver the finest, all-natural seafood.
And now, Acorn Fresh will bring safe, wild, and healthy premium seafood direct to consumers in a market where food safety and supply chain integrity remain significant problems. Acorn Fresh will be available on major and niche third-party e-commerce and digital media platforms in China, as well as Acorn’s official websites and own proprietary platforms.
Acorn Fresh’s seafood products are primarily sourced from Iceland and feature single-frozen, sustainably caught wild seafood, through IS Seafood, a seafood wholesaler that provides seafood to some of China’s leading hotels and restaurants. Acorn also separately engages one of China’s leading cold-chain logistics operators with a reach that covers over 70% of China’s population to deliver its products directly to consumers at a constant temperature of maximum minus 18 degrees Celsius.
Food safety is a real problem in China and consumers are willing to pay a premium for high-quality products. Acorn Fresh is tackling the vast seafood market in China, which is expected to drive more than half of global seafood consumption growth over the next decade according to industry reports. Early indications are that Acorn Fresh is being very well received by Chinese consumers looking for safe and healthy sources of protein for their families.
Robert Roche 