Authorities in Dalian are seeking to cushion local seafood firms from the coronavirus fallout just as a new detection in Yantai city has been linked to packaging on imported seafood, which came through Dalian port.
Authorities in Yantai, a port city and major seafood processing hub, claim packaging on seafood imported in a single container (shared between three companies in the city) tested positive for COVID-19 this week – though there was no suggestion that the virus was passed on to anyone. The firms were based in a local industrial estate, the Yantai Economic & Science Development Zone.
The economic damage to local seafood processors is clearly worrying the local government in Dalian, which is coming to the rescue of seafood firms by subsidizing the cost of prevention and detection measures. Firms can claim half the cost of testing and prevention measures, up to a limit of CNY 30,000 (USD 4,200, EUR 3,600) per company. Companies are also getting reduced electricity prices, noted a circular from government in the Jin Pu New District of the city, which is home to a large seafood processing industry.
In another bid to help the sector, the district government is also subsidizing half of local seafood companies’ advertising spends up to November – up to a limit of CNY 50,000 (USD 7,000, EUR 6,000) per firm. A package of low interest loans, meanwhile, are available to the firms through the local state-owned banking sector.
At the same time, it also appears that government censors have clamped down on social media rumors connecting COVID 19 and seafood. Social media in China has been more restrained this week following the detection in Yantai. Rumors of COVID-19 spreading through imported seafood were rampant on social media platforms after the government first incorrectly drew a connection between imported salmon at a Beijing seafood market and a new outbreak of the coronavirus two months ago.
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