Average seafood prices in China rose 8.8 percent in January year-on-year in the run-up to Chinese New Year on 1 February.
There are signs of a bullish trend in seafood prices, as China’s seafood prices rose 7.9 percent in December. A supply squeeze as a result of COVID-related food safety measures, including tighter inspection regimes at Chinese ports, contributed to the price increases, according to Darin Friedrichs, co-principal of research consultancy Sitonia Consulting. China’s customs authorities have put a one-week freeze on imports into the country by a prominent Vietnamese pangasius exporter, My Lan Tam Loi Co., after detection of COVID traces on packaging following nucleic acid testing on a company’s shipment’s arrival in China. The one-week hold went into place on 15 February.
Food price inflation has become a major topic of interest for Chinese consumers and investors in 2021, with rising prices for staple products grabbing headlines. For the first time in a decade, Japan-based conglomerate Nissin increased retail prices for its popular packaged noodle products in China, blaming cost increases for its ingredients.
However, a 41.6 percent drop in pork prices, prompted by an ongoing recovery of the national herd from swine flu, tamed China’s consumer price index in January. A lowering of pork prices typically dampens seafood demand in China as consumers opt for the cheaper protein, but the correlation between the two appears to have become unhitched as consumers look to seafood as a healthier dietary option.
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