China's 2008 fish trade reaches US$15 billion

China's combined foreign fishery trade reached a record of US$15.24 billion in 2008, according to Infofish, an intergovernmental organisation that provides marketing information and technical advisory services to the fishery industry in the Asia-Pacific region.

In 2008, China exported US$10.11 billion worth of fish and seafood, an on-year increase of 9.15 percent. Although the export volume fell 4 percent from 2.95 million tonnes in 2007 to 2.83 million tonnes in 2008, higher revenue was achieved from the exports of prepared fishery products, which rose by about 37 percent in quantity and 49 percent in value of the total fishery exports in 2008.

The import trend for domestic consumption was comparatively slow last year as seafood consumption during the Spring Festival celebration was seriously affected by the severe cold weather condition during that period.

The economic slowdown and rising urban unemployment have also exerted negative influences on the market for imported fishery products. Many have turned to the cheaper domestically-produced fish. Nonetheless, the China Customs reported that the country's fishery imports also increased last year with a total import volume of 3.71 million tonnes, valuing at US$5.12 billion.

In addition, imports of fishmeal into China bounced back to a record level of 1.35 million tonnes.