April 8, 2014 — Newly released data from one of China’s leading seafood exporting regions shows Chinese exporters have been struggling to build on sales in emerging markets, particularly in Africa.
The Provincial Oceanic and Fishery Bureau of Liaoning province shows in January through February 2014 the province — which includes the key processing hub/port of Dalian — recorded a total international seafood trade of 243,200 metric tons (MT), worth USD 593 million (EUR 430 million), representing a year-on-year decrease of 15.3 percent and 3.7 percent respectively.
Exports totaled 113,100 MT in the first two months of the year, worth USD 417 million (EUR 302 million), down 3.7 percent and an increase of 2.8 percent. Imports of 130,000 MT worth USD 177 million (EUR 128.2 million) represented a decrease of 23.3 percent and 16.3 percent, respectively. While the data will be skewered somewhat by the Chinese New Year festival, which fell in early February, there appears to have been a fall-off in growth from new export markets which have been trumpeted by Chinese exporters and officials as an alternative to weak Western demand.
It’s clear that Liaoning — one of China’s top three seafood producing and exporting regions — has been diversifying its customer base: seafood exporters exported to 81 countries in the first two months of 2014, an increase of 13 countries. The bulk of the new markets were in Europe: 35 countries, an increase of six countries over last year with Germany and Poland ranking as two top markets in volume terms.