China's seafood appetite moving up

 

 

China is a growing seafood market with a massive potential, but exporters must still watch out for the preference of local consumers.

 

China imported 1.14 million tonnes of seafood products for consumption in 2009, up 1.1% from 2008, according to figures released by the Ministry of Agriculture. Both Norway and Canada have improved their seafood trade relationship with the increasingly fish-hungry nation.

 

China is expected to be the largest seafood market, bigger than Japan, said Norway's Minister of Trade and Industry, Trond Giske.

 

In 2009, China imported 230,000 tonnes of seafood products from Norway, up 60% on-year, valued at NOK800 million (US$136.87 million), according to figures from the Norwegian Seafood Export Council (NSEC).

 

The Chinese market not only offers great potential for traditional seafood products, but also for products of limited interest in Canada, said the Canadian embassy.

 

China's main seafood suppliers are Russia, Peru, and the US, with Russia holding about 30% of the market share, said Liu Xinzhong, an official from the fishery bureau of the MOA.

 

In 2008, aquatic products consumption per head was RMB288.24 (US$42.22), up 102% from 1998, an annual growth of 10.2%, said a report from the All-China Federation of Industry & Commerce (ACFIC).

 

Liu said the imported amount is a beneficial supplementary to enrich the domestic market, and the market share will not change in a short time due to the consumption ability and habits.

 

Most imported seafood products are frozen sea fish intended for mass consumption, while some expensive high-end products, such as lobster and sea crab, are sold to hotels, said Sun Chen, a professor from Shanghai Ocean University (SOU).

 

Middle-income consumers are usually the targeted customers, and 60% of salmon promoted in China goes to hotels and Japanese restaurants, said an analyst.

 

However, some Chinese have found it tough adjusting to seafood they are not used to. Chinese have eaten fish with bones for hundreds of years, and they cannot easily get used to the taste of other imported seafood, said Liu.

 

But Wu Xiangsheng, deputy secretary general from the aquatic department with the ACFIC, said in December that consumers born after the 1960s and 1970s will be the future market.

 

The market still has potential once the Chinese accept the promoted products, according to Sun.