China’s festive crab market is in full swing this week. As China goes on holiday to celebrate National Day, the country’s seafood sellers have been promoting product in supermarkets and online. This year the traditional Mid-Autumn festival was celebrated just a week before the ongoing week-long National Day holiday, which marks the founding of the Chinese state.
Cashing in on the annual craze for freshwater crab from Yangcheng Lake in Jiangsu province: Beijing Jin Ruisheng Jia Trade Corp offers crabs in boxes of four. Prices range from RMB 398 (USD 65.02, EUR 48) to RMB 898 (USD 146.70, EUR 108.30), depending on weights and grading (the firm offers female and “heroic” male crabs). Customers who spend RMB 29,999 (USD 4,900, EUR 3,618) get an iPhone4 while those spending RMB 49,999 (USD 8,168, EUR 6,030) are gifted an iPhone5.
Gift giving of seafood is popular at Chinese festivals. Yellow croaker and live Mantis shrimp are key festive offerings at the state-owned Jinkelong supermarket chain. The chain’s Beijing stores visited by SeafoodSource provide presentation boxes to customers buying yellow croaker at RMB 39.80 (USD 6.50, EUR 4.80) per 500g. Jingkelong also offers presentation boxes for butterfish at RMB 66.80 (USD 10.91, EUR 8.06)/500g. Priced at RMB 39.80 per 500g, the live mantis shrimp has proved very popular with customers, according to floor staff, who also pointed to demand for perch, priced at RMB 19 (USD 3.10, EUR 2.29)/500g, among customers for festive home cooking.
Shrimp firm Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products has chosen Japanese-owned supermarket chain Ito Yokado for a festive promotion of its packaged frozen shrimp. The firm is selling red shrimp at RMB 19.8 (USD 3.23, EUR 2.39)/500g and Mantis shrimp at RMB 32.80 (USD 5.36, EUR 3.96)/500g. The shrimp is produced at Guolian’s “Global Shrimp Demonstration Base,” according to Guolian packaging.
Sales of organic-themed seafood meanwhile appear to be tamer, with the kick-in of stricter organic labeling rules. The recent popularity of gift cards for organic and imported food has been driven by a tradition of corporate gift giving, with firms often giving cards to officials and business partners with festive wishes.
Chinese vendors of organic food have been able to charge a premium of 50 to 200 percent compared to non-organic products, according to Zhou Zejiang, Asia representative of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and consultant to the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s Organic Food Development Centre. Organic food accounts for less than 2 percent of the Chinese market but consumption is growing fast, said Zhou.
Two leading organic-themed firms in Beijing have used heavy advertising in local newspapers promoting gift cards and home delivery for its organic-themed food. Adverts placed in Beijing newspapers by Seesang Beijing Agricultural Development Co. Ltd over the past month advertised imported seafood: sales staff called by SeafoodSource were unable to explain the precise certification which guaranteed the products are organic. “Of course it’s organic … The mussels are from New Zealand, it’s very clean water there,” explained the saleswoman on the Seesang hotline.
Seesang displays an IFOAM logo on its advertising, yet IFOAM doesn’t offer certification services and merely offers membership to firms selling organic goods. “Yes, it’s kind of misleading, for customers might regard the logo as a sign of having passed strict certifications. IFOAM has told members to use the logo more cautiously,” Zhou said.
New rules applied since July 2012 by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) limit the use of organic labeling by Chinese food firms, with an online tracking system monitoring firms’ actual output against its registered organic capacity. Each product of certified companies has a unique tracing code to check its information on a government website, explains Zhou. The tracing system means firms have to produce strictly according to the numbers stated on its certification, Zhou said.
