According to Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), China's annual aquatic production is approximately 60 million tonnes, and per capita consumption of aquatic products is approximately 12 kg. Due to the large amount of seafood processed for re-export, some industry figures even point to a number as high as 26 kg/capita in 2006. According to the National Statistics Bureau, Aquatic consumption per capita increased 130 percent in the 10 years from 1998 to 2008.
China is also a major player in the international seafood trade. Due to the country’s steady economic growth, its exports of seafood are increasing every year. Based on World Trade Atlas (WTA) data, in 2009, China exported fish and seafood to the value of US$6.81 billion, a rise of 31 percent from US$5.18 billion in 2008. In the past 10 years, the steady growth in China’s seafood exports has created a huge surplus in the seafood trade.
Getting your product into market
Currently, New Zealand’s live seafood is mainly imported into China through the traditional channel of Hong Kong. According to Hong Kong Customs, in 2009 Hong Kong imported US$53 million of live lobster from New Zealand; in the same year, China only imported US$0.07 million, suggesting a significant proportion of Hong Kong’s imports are destined to satisfy the demand of the mainland Chinese market.
Regulations
Seafood is one of most highly regulated imported food categories in China, especially for live product. Only a few of registered importing companies can legally handle live seafood importation in China. All are required to place deposit with China customs for pre-clearance.
Opportunities
Food safety has become an increasingly important issue in China. Due to higher living standards, consumers increasingly prefer environmentally safe, non-polluted foods. High-end food products of better quality and well-known brands have a growing market share. Meanwhile, with awareness of nutritional values increasing among consumers, green, nutritious and healthy products will be increasingly popular. This arguably creates unprecedented opportunities for New Zealand food exporters.
Challenges
New Zealand’s seafood presence in Chinese restaurants is best illustrated by Rock Lobster. High-end Chinese restaurants sell rock lobsters as a luxury product. Since Australia and New Zealand rock lobsters are homogenous, the Chinese consumer has been led to believe that all such lobster is from Australia. Therefore, live lobsters from New Zealand despite the actual high volumes in market, remain completely unknown at consumer level and thus are not been demanded by name. By contrast, Australia, Japan and South Africa have representative product and establish brand images.
