In a decision that has changed the face of the seafood market in China, in the past few years, the country’s government has begun to allow more regional cities to handle imports of perishable goods, enabling these municipalities to generate customs revenues while also keeping local food supply and pricing stable.
As a result, major seafood exporting countries are finding it possible to bring their goods into place places like Jiangsu, Suzhou and Nanjing, smoothing out one wrinkle in the logistical puzzle of the Chinese exporting process.
Imports of seafood into the capital of comparatively wealthy Jiangsu province have trebled since the region was granted the right to process foreign seafood imports. Authorities in Jiangsu, one of China’s wealthiest regions, say the two motivations for increasing imports of foreign seafood are restraining prices and guaranteeing quality.
The city of Suzhou was allowed to start handling seafood imports in 2015 when Suzhou Gao Xin Qu Comprehensive duty free zone and Xuzhou Guanyin Airport were appointed official quarantine zones for seafood. The local AQSIQ (China’s quarantine and inspection bureau) office predicts more than 1,000 tons of fresh salmon will be imported into the city in 2017.
Also open for seafood imports: Nanjing’s Lukou Airport, which handled 300 tons of salmon from Chile, the Faroe Islands, the United Kingdom and Australia in the past year, according to AQSIQ.
Noticeably, the bureau said nothing about Norwegian imports into China, signaling that the Scandinavian country continues to have problems gaining access for its fresh salmon into the market in mainland China on political grounds.
