Australian lobsters continue to fetch premium prices in China despite a freeze in relations between the two sides that has disrupted seafood trade.
Long a premium novelty product in the Chinese dining scene, live Qing Hua (Azure Dragon) lobster – (named for its unusual blue tinged coloring – is fetching CNY 898 (USD 143.60, EUR 117.70) per kilogram on Chinese e-commerce site JD.com this week.
At the other end of the market, JD.com was also selling less-distinctive looking Cuban lobsters are retailing for CNY 198 (USD 31.60, EUR 25.70), with a guaranteed size of 800 grams to one kilogram.
Live Canadian lobster is fetching CNY 359 (USD 57.40, EUR 46.6) per kilogram on JD.com, while 1.1-kilogram live lobsters – confusingly termed Boston lobsters from Canada – are selling for CNY 469 (USD 75.00, EUR 60.90) each.
Over on Suning.com, 400-gram frozen Boston lobster is retailing at CNY 199 (USD 31.80, EUR 25.80) – again, the lobster is registered as coming from Canada. Indeed, every one of the Boston lobster offerings reviewed by SeafoodSource on numerous e-commerce sites in China were listed as originating in Canada.
Even though American product is hard to find in China right now, China’s lobster market has become increasingly competitive in recent months, according to Lobster Council of Canada Executive Director Geoff Irvine. China’s 25 percent tariff on U.S. lobster, levied in 2018, was eased in January 2020, and Chinese purchases increased in the latter half of 2020 as the country was able to limit the spread of COVID-19 and allow some foodservice activity.
Trade data shows China bought USD 127 million (EUR 106 million) worth of U.S. lobster in 2020, an increase of 49 percent over 2019, according to the Portland Press Herald. The United States sold lobsters worth USD 31 million (EUR 25.9 million) to China in December 2020, making it the biggest month for U.S. lobster sales to China since 2018. Meanwhile, Canada’s lobster sales to China dropped 20 percent in 2020 compared to a year prior.
Irvine said U.S. lobster exporters are doing better because they have a freight advantage over Canadian product and can sell their crustaceans for lower prices.
“[That] is attractive to a very competitive market in China,” Irvine told SeafoodSource. “We are back to the competitive situation that existed pre-Trump and, given the drop in landings for lobster in Canada and the U.S., [Canada] will work hard to keep our market position everywhere.”
U.S. lobster exporters also gained a better foothold in the European market in December 2020, when the European Union agreed to a trade deal with the U.S. that eliminated all tariffs on lobster for the next five years.
“The U.S. has the same situation [as Canada] in the E.U. with those tariffs now gone as well,” Irvine said. “They are much more competitive in lobster and as markets continue to recover, I expect Canada and the U.S. will return to a more traditional sharing of markets that we were used to before Trump.”
Irvine said while Asia and Europe remained important markets for both Canadian and U.S. lobster exporters, it remained of vital importance for good trading relations to be maintained between the North American allies.
“It is important to remember that Canada and the U.S. are both our best customers for processed and live lobster and that will not change anytime soon,” he said.
Photo courtesy of MagicBones/Shutterstock
