An Irish oyster producer is reporting an uptick in Chinese demand.
Des Moore, managing director at Belle Isle Seafoods, which ships most of its output to Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, China, said while incoming orders have been “sporadic and unpredictable” due to “panicking” and discounting by European oyster exporters, the market is returning.
“Orders will be back to normal [by] July,” Moore told SeafoodSource.
While Moore is paying up to 15 percent more than last year for freight – with flights to and from China limited – he is happy to have found an alternative route to market via Holland. An air route from Dublin via Qatar is also a freight option to Chinese buyers, he said. But according to Moore, freight charges from Qatar Air are up 10 to 20 percent year-over-year, and other Middle Eastern carriers Emirates and Etihad have increased their rates by 60 to 70 percent compared to last year.
“I will maintain the same price in China, although I pay a little extra on cargo. I can see the same quantities as last year by mid-July. The Chinese seem more positive in the last week, as demand appears more forthcoming,” he said. “The issue of cargo prices has been a big one, with it being more advantageous in recent months to sell bulk to France, [where they] pack and [ship] to China under their own brands.”
Moore said he wants to keep his prices stable and is resuming shipments to an important buyer in Shanghai at the end of June, but he worries about discounting by other oyster exporters. On a positive note for Moore, after dealing with environmental difficulties in recent years, his oyster output is healthy this season.
“There is no mortality this year,” he said.
Moore said Irish oyster farmers have looked to sales in Europe as a hedge against a downturn in Asia. But due to the universal nature of the coronavirus, the European market is “dead,” Moore said.
“My reliance on keeping all options open worked well this year,” he said.
