High raw material prices are forcing some Chinese squid processors to use as many parts of the cephalopod as possible in order to extract value and turn a profit.
Trevor Wang, sales manager at Shandong Xinrihai Food Co. told SeafoodSource at the 2025 Seafood Expo Global, which took place 6 to 8 May in Barcelona, Spain, that his company has recently developed an increasingly diverse range of products from cheaper parts of squid, such as the tentacles, in order to combat rising prices.
Based in the eastern port city of Yantai, the firm has been attempting to add value to the cheaper parts of squid by marinating cooked tentacles, for instance, and selling them to key Asian markets like Japan and South Korea, with its sights set on expanding its range of snack items to the wider Asian market.
Chinese squid processors are facing a bevy of challenges that require such innovation to overcome. Even though China continues to increase its squid catch, many Chinese squid-fishing companies aim to sell their catch directly to the E.U. for processing, as they achieve higher prices there.
Chinese processors have tried to implement measures to entice these companies to send their catch back home instead. For example, the municipal government in Zhoushan, a major squid-processing hub, has offered subsidies to fishing companies that transport their catch home for processing...
