Dalian Rich Enterprise Group Co. has launched a new range of seafood dumplings for the American market in conjunction with the Jack & Kings brand, operated by Galaxy Global based in Norcross, Georgia, U.S.A.
Dalian Rich International Sales Executive Sara Shi said her company has signed distribution deals with firms on both U.S. coasts.
“Sales are going very well,” Shi told SeafoodSource.
However, Dalian Rich’s efforts in the domestic Chinese market have been complicated by the fast-changing tastes of Chinese eaters and by shortcomings in Chinese value-added seafood-processing capacity.
“Chinese market demand is very strong, but fish-product processing for the domestic market is not mature,” Shi said. “The market is [a] mess now. All [processing] plants are struggling to develop new seafood products to fit the domestic market.”
Faced with volatile demand and currency fluctuations in Western markets, Chinese government agencies and seafood industry groups have in recent years encouraged seafood firms to develop products for the fast-growing domestic market, according to Shi. But the complexity of Chinese cuisine is one of the challenges in transitioning to the domestic market, Shi said.
“There are so many ways to cook Chinese food. There are eight regional cuisine styles [and] hundreds of tastes,” Shi told SeafoodSource. “It is a long journey to develop the China domestic market.”
Chinese consumer habits are another major challenge, Shi said.
“Most Chinese like to eat fish and want to eat fish, but they don’t know how to cook and how to clean the fish, especially in some inland areas,” she said.
Processing plants will have to circumvent this problem, she added, “[to] let everyone eat fish easily and conveniently.”
Photo courtesy of Dalian Rich Enterprise Group
