Some of China’s leading seafood companies have seen their share prices jump on the back of a leap in food prices.
On Wednesday, 23 October, Shares of aquaculture firms Guolian Aquatic and Shandong Homey Aquatic Development rose by 10 percent compared to the previous day’s closing price, while shares in troubled shellfish cultivator Zoneco rose 6.8 percent.
Traders appeared to be prompted by the specter of food price inflation, caused largely by an ongoing African swine flu epidemic battering China’s pork sector. China’s average pork price rose 69.3 percent year-on-year in September, up from 46.7 percent the previous month, representing the fastest growth in pork prices since August 2007. Chicken prices rose 14.7 percent in September as consumers sought alternatives to pork.
Inflation in seafood prices has been very tame by comparison – prices rose a mere 2.9 percent in September. However, the less-significant drop could be due to the end of the country’s annual moratorium on fishing in domestic waters, causing a surge in supply.
China’s per capita consumption of seafood averaged 46.4 kilograms in 2018, whereas the average Chinese ate 46.8 kilograms of the combined category of “beef, lamb, and pork” according to figures prepared by China’s Agriculture Ministry. Average consumption of seafood grew by 72.5 percent on the 1996 figures, while consumption of beef, lamb, and pork grew 55 percent in the 1996-2018 time period. Per capita consumption of fruit rose by 176 percent milk consumption leaped up by 333 percent during that timeframe, according to the Agriculture Ministry.
The data suggest that consumption of seafood has outpaced that of meat, a trend that may be accelerated by the African swine flu epidemic, which has decimated much of the nation’s pig herd.
Photo courtesy of By Makhh/Shutterstock
