September 1, 2023
China, one of the largest seafood traders worldwide, has bought more than it sells from this January to July. Its seafood iports value has increased by 14.7% to 14.14 billion dollars compared with that of last year. Meanwhile the export has dropped by 12.3% to 11.77 billion dollars, according to the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. This means a trade deficit of 2.37 billion dollars compared with a surplus of 1.08 billion dollars in that period of 2022.
It has also become the largest buyers of some countries’ seafood in Asia or even all over the world. Norway, for example, said that China has beat Japan and South Korea for the first time and became the biggest importer of its fresh salmon in the first seven months. The export volume has ballooned by 65% to around 24 thousand tons, and the value by 94% to about 2.4 billion yuan. Both are new records in the bilateral salmon trade.
In July alone, the salmon export volume has increased by 59% to 3.253 thousand tons, while the value by 88% to around 0.347 billion yuan. Some other seafood has also performed well in the oriental market. During this first half year, Norway’s seafood export volume to China is nearly 70 thousand tons, and the value is around 3 billion yuan. Regarding volume, China’s the fourth largest importer of Norwegian seafood.
Meanwhile, China is said to be the largest importer of Russia’s seafood from the beginning of this year to July, and the export volume to China accounts for 53% of the country’s total, as a report from foodspath.com shows. Among all, Alaska pollock fillets stand out with surprising performance in the neighboring market. Though the fillet export in total has dived by 42%, China’s import has skyrocketed by more than 3 times.
Meanwhile, China’s fishing off-season starting this May has also helped pushed upward the country’s seafood imports. Partly due to the ban, Ningbo city, for example, has seen the import volume of eatable seafood skyrocket by 246.8% to 66 thousand tons from this January to July, and the value by 201.2% to 2 billion yuan. Most of the seafood have come from regions like Argentina, Canada, Peru, the ASEAN, and Chile. Though uncertainties loom ahead due to factors like Japan’s wastewater, at this moment China is a magnet for seafood suppliers around the world.