Average prices for crustaceans dropped 17 percent year-on-year and 11.8 percent month-on-month in China in August, according to the Ministry of Agriculture in Beijing.
The ministry’s survey of 68 wholesale markets across China showed prices for crustaceans cratered as summer waned.
However, average seafood prices overall, at CNY 21.40 (USD 3.21, EUR 2.78) per kilo, grew 2.6 percent year-on-year and 6 percent month-on-month in August.
In the first seven months of the year, China’s seafood imports totaled 3.34 million tons, down four percent on the same period last year. Imports were down 10.3 percent in value at USD 9.2 billion (EUR 7.8 billion). Exports totaled 2.06 million tons, down 13.8 percent year-on-year, while also dropping 14 percent in value to USD 10 billion (EUR 8.5 billion).
Freshwater seafood prices grew strongest in the ministry’s survey of August market sales, evidence of tightening supplies of aquaculture products. There was a 12.3 percent jump in average prices to CNY 16.09 (USD 2.41, EUR 2.09) per kilogram for freshwater seafood, while the month-on-month rise was more modest at 2.5 percent.
China’s imports of seafood strongly outpaced exports in July, but only in volume terms. At 451,000 metric tons, however, imports were down 8.2 percent month-on-month and 13.8 percent year-on-year, yet the fall was steeper in value terms, dropping 16.1 percent year-on-year and 7.8 percent month-on-month at USD 1.3 billion (EUR 1.1 billion).
Totaling 322,800 MT, exports were down 3.1 percent year-on-year but up 4.5 percent month-on-month. In value terms exports – totaling USD 1.6 billion (EUR 1.4 billion) – fell 0.5 percent on the same period last year and were down 5.1 percent month-on-month.
Photo courtesy of Mark Godfrey/SeafoodSource
