New figures from China’s top seafood producing provinces show a continuing growth in imports and a decline in exports.
Exports from northeast Shandong, the country’s top producer, fell by more than 5 percent in volume and more than 3 percent in value to $3.1 billion between January and November compared to the same period in 2007 as the increasing value of the Reminbi continued to take its toll.
But a breakdown of the figures, posted Thursday on chinaseafood.com, show that exports to Europe grew by nearly 9 percent, partly offsetting the fall in exports to the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Imports during the same period rose 1 percent to $196 million.
Further north, Liaoning province saw imports rise by 10 percent in the same period.
Southeast Fujian, the third biggest seafood province, saw the biggest increase in imports at 31 percent. Imports of fish powder, used as protein content in fish feed, rose by 45 percent from countries including Chile, Peru, the United States and Russia to $410 million.
The province continues to buck the trend of falling exports with the amount of frozen crab exported more than doubling in value between January and November to $146 million, compared to last year. Crab exports, together with roasted eel and frozen prawns, made up nearly half of all exported seafood from Fujian.
Total seafood exports from the province grew 7.55 percent between January and November year on year to $1.12 billion.
