A Chinese ban on live Australian lobsters has prompted Australia to look elsewhere as it readjusts its dependence on China as a top market.
China, long the top destination for Australian lobster exports, instituted the ban in November 2020 in apparent retaliation for a call from the Australian government for more clarity from Beijing over the origins of the COVID-19 virus.
Anthony Ciconte, managing partner of the Brighton, Victoria, Australia-based Atlantis Fisheries Consulting Group, said Australian exporters are moving on to other markets.
“Whilst there is no doubt that, without the Chinese market, the Australian fishing industry will make less revenue, there is a silver lining in the situation because we are seeing a forced recalibration in values of fish and, in particular, lobster,” Ciconte said. “The business threat of China pulling out on Australia has crystalized, and will force Australian producers to move away from taking single market risk in the future. This has already begun, with prices stabilizing.”
Ciconte said the closure of the Chinese market to Australian exporters has pushed rock lobster prices downward globally, but in China, consumers now must pay steep premiums.
“In banning the importation of Australian lobster, the Chinese people are ultimately the ones that suffer, with prices of southern rock lobster soaring to the Chinese consumer in mainland China, but dropping everywhere else outside of China. So effectively, the Chinese consumer has been indirectly penalized by the political maneuver. At the same time, consumers in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and in fact, domestic Australian consumers are enjoying southern rock lobsters at prices not seen for over a decade. So pricing parity is way out of sync and it’s the Chinese consumer paying the price.”
Lower prices are causing European Union and U.K. customers to take notice, according to Ciconte.
“Companies in Italy and Germany have both expressed strong interest in our lobsters, particularly the larger ones, and smaller Asian countries are getting the benefit of two-way trade opportunities that were previously owned by Chinese companies, for products like vannemei and basa,” he said. “So, whilst industry turnover is well down, the resilience of the industry backed up by the world’s best fisheries management framework, is making new waves in new markets with a high-end clean-and-green offering not previously afforded to markets other than China. It’s a good thing in the long-run.”
Photo courtesy of crbellette/Shutterstock
