Port Lincoln tuna baron Hagen Stehr has cracked the Chinese market

Port Lincoln tuna baron Hagen Stehr has welcomed the arrival of his first shipment of southern bluefin tuna to China, saying the market promises to breath new prosperity into the Eyre Peninsula region.

Port Lincoln tuna baron Hagen Stehr has welcomed the arrival of his first shipment of southern bluefin tuna to China, saying the developing market promises to breathe new prosperity into the Eyre Peninsula region.

The Stehr Group’s first container of southern blue fin tuna was unloaded in China on Tuesday night.

Mr Stehr said he was hopeful the new market in China would provide a much larger and higher priced outlet for the nation’s Port Lincoln-based tuna industry.

“It was very pleasing, but it makes me really nervous to see the Federal Labor Party and the political nonsense they are going on about with the Chinese Free Trade Agreement,” Mr Stehr said.

“It has taken us years of hard work and effort to crack the Chinese market and if they put this Free Trade Agreement with China in jeopardy, it will hurt all Australians.

“You see how a small country like New Zealand with only four million people is killing us in trade and we are jeopardising our future by playing politics.”

Mr Stehr urged the Federal Labor Party to stop playing around with the future of Australia and especially South Australia when there is such a need to open-up trade and develop the trading relationship with China.

“China is critical to our future because they have 1.3 billion people and it is the biggest market in the world,” he said.

The Stehr Group’s consignment to China comprised top-class 40kg fish at a much better price than Japan was offering, Mr Stehr said.

“We already have firm orders for 120 tonnes of tuna from China for next year and we are marching towards 200 tonnes for the year,” he said.

“The price we are getting in China is a lot better than the Japanese price, helped by the value of the Australian dollar.”

Mr Stehr warned that Japan was trying to steal the Chinese market from Australia by buying our tuna cheaply and selling it to China at a bigger profit.

“The Japanese want us to sell only to Japan and they are trying to close every avenue we have to get to China,” he said.

“It is a real threat to the tuna industry because we don’t want to be beholden to the Japanese.

“We have to break the stronghold the Japanese have over our tuna industry and while this first shipment is only a chink in the armour, it will become a flood in future.”

Mr Stehr said while he had supplied superior tuna to China, what they catch in the Pacific Ocean was B and C class fish.

“We are giving them clean and green tuna, while the yellowfin tuna they are catching near Hawaii has a very high mercury level,” he said.

“We are always sending fresh fish to Japan, the United States, Europe and Hong Kong, where we are being helped by the strengthening of the US dollar.”