An import surge is taming China’s seafood pricing, even as soaring pork prices pressure food price inflation.
The overall average price of seafood in the first seven months of 2019 averaged CNY 23.5 per/kg (USD 3.25 per/kg, EUR 2.96 per/kg), down 2.43 percent year-on-year, according to a survey of 80 seafood wholesale markets conducted by China’s Ministry of Agriculture.
A mass cull of pigs due to African swine flu has pushed pig prices by 40 percent in the first half of 2019, worrying government officials over potential social unrest from a shortage of pork – China’s staple meat.
Yet the surge in pig prices hasn’t spurred a rise in seafood prices as consumers switch proteins. That may be because China’s seafood imports rose 25.89 percent in volume and 30.89 percent in value in the first six months of 2019. By contrast, exports were up 3.2 percent in volume and fell 2.85 percent in value in the first half of 2019. As a result, China’s normally formidable trade surplus in seafood trade fell by 63.2 percent year-on-year.
China's domestic production continues to plateau. A survey of 20 provinces shows overall seafood output in the first seven months totaling 29.3 million tons, down 0.03 percent on the same period last year. Sea-caught product at 4.07 million tons was down 5.09 percent, while sea-cultivated product at 10.42 million tons rose by 2.35 percent year-on-year. Freshwater cultivation at 14.1 million tons was largely static, rising only 0.35 percent.
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