China announced that the first shipment of Arctic king crab transported via a new overland route through Russia and Kazakhstan was successful.
The 20-metric-ton (MT) shipment traveled through the Barents Sea, Russia, and then through Kazakhstan into the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where it entered China in Jeminay County near the city of Urumqi. The trip took six days to transit through Russia and Kazakhstan before arriving at a trading center selling Chinese goods to neighboring states.
A new route to the Chinese market could allow Russian exporters to expand sales of crab in China – a process that’s already underway. In 2023, the Russian Crab Group of Companies increased their shipments of live crab to China to 8,600 MT, which was up 71 percent on 2022 figures.
Most Russian crab catch has traditionally been shipped to China via the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East, but importers using the new overland route, as well as import firms operating in the northern Chinese city of Harbin – a major railway nexus – have sought to make themselves a hub for Russian crab trade.
Climate change has made Arctic waters more navigable, and China has stressed its ambition to become a major player in the Arctic. Russia, meanwhile, has also put a much greater emphasis on development of its Arctic region, aiming to allow naval access for shipments of gas and other resources. This autumn, the China Coast Guard claimed to have entered the Arctic Ocean for the first time as part of a joint patrol with Russia.
These moves have worried other nations about the lack of oversight and possible overfishing that could deplete the region’s resources.
Nevertheless, China has not slowed its ambitions, as the country has also sought to connect Xinjiang to seafood suppliers on the Indian Ocean via Pakistan.
