November 5, 2010

China's 2010 global seafood trade seen to surpass US$17 billion

China's 2010 international seafood trade will be worth more than US$17 billion, likely overtaking the US and becoming the world's largest seafood-trading country, according to Peter Redmayne, Tuesday (Nov 2).

The Chinese market is getting stronger because the country is becoming more prosperous and more people can afford both domestic and imported seafood, said Redmayne, who is president of US-based Sea Fare Expositions Inc.

"Chinese people are importing more and more seafood even though the prices of some products, such as salmon and king crab, are rising," he said.

Norway alone exported 19,300 tonnes of salmon, valued at RMB895 million (US$133.97 million), to the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong in the first eight months, figures released by the Norwegian Seafood Export Council (NSEC) showed. The imports increased 35% in volume and 53% in value on-year.

"Some 130,000 tonnes of Norwegian seafood were imported to China in 2009, valued at RMB1.9 billion (US$0.29 billion). 2010 could become another record-breaking year as the value already reached RMB1.9 billion (US$0.29 billion) in September," said Ashild Nakken, director of NSEC China.

Nakken said China will soon surpass Japan and become the most important market in Asia for Norwegian salmon. "We are very happy that the Chinese people like Norwegian salmon. They buy more and pay more," she said.

Compared with the rising imports, China's seafood exports have been falling slightly since 2007. "It's partly because of the rising labour cost. Also, some imported products for reprocessing are not exported but stay in China for domestic consumption," Redmayne said.

Liaoning Province Dalian Ocean Fishery Group Corp (Liaoyu Group), previously an export-oriented pelagic fishery corporation, is now paying more attention to the domestic market.

"Exports are becoming less competitive with the potential appreciation of the yuan and rising labour costs. We are now rebalancing the two markets. We not only sell our own products in the domestic market, but also act as agents for overseas seafood products," said Lu Daqiang, vice-general manager of Liaoyu Group.