March 6, 2017 — A crackdown on smuggling and tighter international supply are two of the reasons for a surge in seafood prices in China last year.
A statement from the country’s fisheries bureau at China’s Agriculture Ministry also credits high pork prices (driving consumers to alternative proteins) as well as floods in several key domestic freshwater production regions for the rise in prices. China is in the midst of one of its cyclical pork price rises, while “coordinated exercises against smuggling” in 2016 has tightened the grey channel, according to the ministry.
According to a survey of 80 seafood wholesale markets around China by the Agriculture Ministry, there was a recovery in prices, with average seafood prices up 5.3 percent year-on-year in 2016. There was a surge in carp prices of 11 percent as lower-income consumers switched from pork. But the biggest boost was for seawater species, which rose by 7.3 percent in price compared to a 2.7 percent year-on-year rise for freshwater species.
Of 49 species monitored, 29 rose in price last year, of which eight species rose by more than 10 percent in price. Prices for another four species were flat year-on-year, while prices for another 16 species were flat year-on-year.
There was a modest increase in the volume sold, reaching 9.36 million tons, an increase of 1.05 percent on 2015. The value of product sold, however, increased by 3.69 percent year-on-year to CNY 185.8 billion (USD 27 billion, EUR 25.6 billion).
There is clear evidence of the rising importance of imports and seawater species. Prices for seawater species rose fastest (10.5 percent) in the first quarter of 2016 – the period which coincides with Chinese New Year. Prices grew fastest in the third quarter (5.61 percent year on year) for freshwater species, but grew only 0.63 percent in the first quarter, typically the high point of consumption due to Chinese New Year.
Meanwhile there’s been a sharp rise in prices for seawater crustaceans (9.4 percent) and shellfish (8.4 percent), as well as fish (6.13 percent).