Frozen Cuban lobsters are proving a hot item for the New Year holiday in China, where prices are rising to a premium to other key markets.
Packaged in gift boxes, Cuban lobsters sized 900 to 1,100 grams are selling at CNY 568 (USD 81.52, EUR 72.79) on the Yu Xian Xuan store on Tmall.com, while lobsters averaging 1,500 grams sell at CNY 470 (USD 67.45, EUR 60.23) on the Frozen World store on JD.com, another key Chinese e-commerce site. The latter is marketing the lobsters as premium gift items for the Chinese New Year holiday, when China’s migrant workers visit their families, often bearing gifts.
Cuban lobsters were selling at EUR 44.90 (USD 50.28) per kilogram in German supermarket chain Edeka last week, while the island’s lobsters are fetching EUR 46.89 (USD 52.51) per kilogram in an Italian supermarket, according to photos posted by Cubans overseas on the Cibercuba website. Cibercuba estimates the export of lobsters and shrimp is worth USD 63 million (EUR 56.4 million) per year to the Cuban government, which controls the trade.
With aid from its ally Venezuela now a memory after the latter country’s fall into political and economic difficulty, exports of goods for hard currency has become a priority for the Cuban government, which has also relaxed rules allowing its citizens to open dollar-based accounts to use for purchases at government-run stores.
China, Cuba’s longtime ally, has sought to tap the island’s potential as a source of commodities as well as a center for research in biomedical products.
Volumes of Cuban seafood appearing on export markets could soon increase, as Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel has promised to develop the island’s aquaculture potential using Chinese technology.
Photo courtesy of Nikolpetr/Shutterstock
