Rising seafood sales to China are helping cushion the blow for Indonesian exporters who have had their shipments to the Middle East disrupted by the ongoing war in Iran.
According to Arie Prabawa, a Jakarta, Indonesia-based seafood sourcing and aquaculture consultant, Chinese demand for fish species like grouper and snapper from Indonesia is “very high” at the moment, while orders to the Middle East have been either delayed or canceled.
“Prices are a little bit down because of the disruption to air freight serving the Middle East, so some orders have been canceled and some delayed,” said Prabawa, who sources for buyers looking for Indonesian seafood in the Middle East and Asia, as well as the U.S.
Landy Chow, the general manager of seafood exporter Siam Canadian’s Chinese office, told SeafoodSource he believes shrimp exports in particular will increase to China, and in return, he said China is likely seeking to grow exports of manufactured goods like electric vehicles to Indonesia.
Other Indonesian species that are commonly bought by China include frozen squid tops, various seaweeds, and ribbonfish, as well as leatherjacket fish and frozen croaker, according to Chinese customs data.
Prabawa said besides shipping from Indonesia to China directly, he has also noticed a trend of Chinese buyers sourcing seafood in Indonesia and then shipping that product for processing in Vietnam before sending it onward to China.
“In many cases, [these companies] already have [processing infrastructure] in Vietnam,” Prabawa said.
Indonesian seafood exports to China are largely tariff-free under the ASEAN-China free trade agreement, and further aiding seafood sales to China have been moves made by Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP), which has been on a drive to increase seafood exports. As part of that push, last month, the ministry announced 40 additional fish processors have obtained export approval to ship products to China.
Indonesia’s seafood exports reached USD 6.27 billion (EUR 5.39 billion) in 2025, which was up 5.2 percent from the previous year. The U.S. was the largest market for the Southeast Asian nation, buying USD 1.99 billion (EUR 1.63 billion) worth of Indonesian seafood.
Indonesia has also sought to grow its seafood exports to Japan, which recently granted tariff-free access for processed tuna and skipjack under the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement.
