An ambitious firm with African roots plans to fly 100,000 kilos of lobster from across Africa each month to China. Headquartered in Germany, Kingdom International Holding will ultimately increase that figure to 300,000 kilograms per month to satisfy rising Chinese demand for large quantities of lobster, according to company CEO Eidris Kitao.
“The quantities being sought by our buyers in China are mind boggling…we were asked to supply 100 tons per month, in Germany we’d struggle to get a buyer for 100 kilograms…” said Kitao, who charges USD 88 (EUR 66) per kilo for the most popular African lobster, the blue painted lobster (panulirus versicolour). This is a considerable mark up on the average USD 12 (EUR 9) he’s seen lobsters sold for in Africa. Most of Kitao’s supply however will come from a team of full-time divers paid USD 500 (EUR 377) per month, a generous wage in most parts of Africa.
In between meeting buyers at the Asian Seafood Exposition in Hong Kong, Kitao told SeafoodSource he’s planning to hire and train 500 divers across 12 African countries to seek out lobsters, with shipments consolidated in Tanzania before shipment to holding tanks in Dubai.
“There are large quantities of lobster in the countries we operate in but operating in those countries can be very difficult. The lobster capture sector remains small-scale in Africa, with very little of the use of scuba divers seen in Latin America,” he said.
Kingdom International currently sources from Morocco, Somalia, Madagascar and Senegal: While he declines to name some of the countries for security reasons, Kitao said the lack of a local market makes other countries particularly rich — if difficult — sources for lobsters. "In some of the countries we operate in there is no tourism industry and very little local consumption…you see guys going around with ten lobsters hoping a guy in a Range Rover comes along and buys them...or you see lobsters just being cooked in the street because there’s no demand, people don’t know what to do with them.”
There are plenty of challenges: China doesn’t recognize health certificates (required by customs in the country) for most African states so Kitao ships out of Kenya and Tanzania, whose certificates are recognized by Chinese authorities. However widespread corruption in Kenya (where Kitao has family roots) means he’s seeking to open a logistics center in Dubai, “where we can have peace of mind.”
There’s also competition from Chinese seafood import firms that have been sourcing small quantities of lobster from Africa (though larger shipments are coming from South Africa, which has direct air connections with China). Kitao however is not concerned: “The Chinese are only able to get small quantities from small-scale operators, they don’t have a network of divers in Africa.”
Chinese buyers have also been frustrated by high mortality rates among lobsters supplied from Africa.
“The small scale suppliers just don’t know how to prepare lobsters for a 24 hour trip to China…they don’t appreciate that you have to diet the lobsters for three days before and ensure they have adequate oxygen during the trip…that’s why there’s been mortality rates of 30 to 50 percent.”
Kitao is also looking to Chinese demand for sea cucumber.
“We had our eyes open to this at the seafood show in Brussels earlier this year and now we’ve come to Hong Kong and our eyes are really open…there’s huge demand, but we’re not sure we could get the volumes in Africa to satisfy the demand,” he said.
With roots in the service sector — a sister firm provides limousine services in Germany — Kingdom Living is based in Germany “because sometimes people have a bad image of Africa and when they see we’re a German company they don’t worry about getting paid.”
