China’s tuna fleet could be in for a boost as demand for tuna rises during the lockdown imposed in many countries due to the coronavirus, according to Joe Murphy, senior vice president of marketing at Liancheng Overseas Fishery.
“The global expansion of the horrible coronavirus has caused the purchase of canned tuna for the millions quarantined and staying home to skyrocket and prices have moved up significantly,” Murphy told SeafoodSource.
Also supporting higher prices is the fact that the catch has also been poor in both the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific since the start of the year, Murphy said.
This comes after a slew of Chinese firms blamed over capacity in the global tuna sector for weak pricing in 2019. The Japanese market is “saturated,” noted key player Shandong based Zhong Lu in its freshly audited accounts for 2019.
Sales of canned fish and vegetables as well as packaged soup soared in the key E.U. grocery market of Germany in the past week, according to market research agencies with tinned tuna sales up 80 percent at key discounter Aldi.
Liancheng aims to market Marine Stewardship Council-certified bigeye catch in China, Japan, Asia, the United States, and Europe and last year saw its longline yellowfin and bigeye tuna fishery in the Federated States of Micronesia achieve the first MSC certification for bigeye tuna.
The fishery, owned by three interconnected Chinese fishing companies, Liancheng Overseas Fishery (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd (SZLC), China Southern Fishery Shenzhen Co. Ltd (CSFC) and Liancheng Overseas Fishery (FSM) Co. Ltd. (FZLC), achieved MSC certification for yellowfin in October 2018.
Liancheng isn’t the only one betting on a coronavirus bounce for tuna. Vietnamese seafood industry body VASEP earlier this month projected a 15 percent rise in that country’s tuna shipments in 2020 due to coronavirus-related stockpiling in Western markets.
Photo courtesy of Liancheng Overseas Fishery
