November 6, 2007

 

China's seafood  production and demand to rise as affluence grows

 

 

The outlook for seafood production and consumption in China, the world's leading seafood producer and exporter, is largely favourable, according to a report by Glitnir Bank, which specialises in the seafood  sector.

 

A traditional penchant for seafood, rising affluence, greater production capacity are the causes of this growing trend not only in China but in Asia, Glitnir Bank said at the release of its new report on China's seafood industry at the Ocean of Opportunities Conference in Shanghai, China.

 

Seafood consumption in China has more than doubled from 11.5kg per capita in 1990 to an average of 25.6kg per capita in 2006.

 

A further rise of 40 percent to 35.9kg is expected by 2020.

 

China is forecast to be able to satisfy growth in demand independently.

 

China's total seafood production last year was 51 million tonnes, which represented a stable year-on-year growth of 4.08 percent, the report said.

 

Aquaculture, capture, production and processing are concentrated in a few regional centers- the coastal cities of Dalian and Qingdao in the north and the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong in the south.

 

Shandong province, of which Qingdao is the capital, is the top Chinese province in seafood  production, with a total of 7.4 million tonnes

 

Out of the top ten aquaculture products harvested in Chinese seawater, six are shellfish.

 

Carp accounts for 72 percent of freshwater aquaculture products production.

 

However, species such as shrimp and tilapia are gaining in importance and in recent years China produced some 41 per cent of the world's shrimp, making it the world's largest producer.

 

China's seafood  production this year has been hampered by import bans due to antibiotic contamination.

 

Responding to the sharp criticism from abroad, the Chinese government has implemented a series of measures to address product quality control and monitoring, the report noted.

 

The Chinese domestic market is dominated by freshwater fish and molluscs and the only imports for domestic consumption are higher value seafood like abalone and shrimp.

 

Chinese consumers are also moving away from the traditional wet markets and smaller shops towards supermarkets and megastores, due partly to the recent food safety scares and the proliferation of foreign retail chains Carrefour and WalMart, which both offer diverse seafood selections.

 

In recent years, seafood processing has seen significant growth in China and processing for re-export has become a multi-billion dollar trade. Much of the raw material for this activity is frozen seawater catch and is supplied by Russia and the US. Processing for re-export is supported by a 100-percent tariff rebate, paid at the time of export.

 

As for trade, China is well underway with the implementation of its commitments agreed under the accession to the WTO. Besides enhancing overall trade in terms of improvement in regulations, there are two major benefits of the WTO agreement to seafood trade: reduction of tariffs and enhanced Soy Bean import to China, which can be used for feed.

 

The report provides an analytical overview of the main trends and developments in the Chinese seafood sector.

 

The new Glitnir Seafood Industry Report is the second annual report to be published by Glitnir on the Chinese market. This report is the sixth in a series of seven issues planned for 2007.

 

Issues from the series' previous four years of publication have focused on the seafood industries in Europe, North and Latin America. All previous reports are available at www.glitnir.is/seafood.