An ambitious trading center in Rongcheng city on China’s east coast is betting on a supply of low-priced Russian crab to drive a new live trade.
About 55 tons of live king crab from the Russian port of Zarubino entered tanks this week at the Hao Yun Yu Xiang International Fresh Live Trading Center in Rongcheng.
With impending completion of a transport connection linking Zarubino and other Russian cities in Siberia to nearby Chinese seafood hubs and ports like Dalian, Qingdao and Rongcheng, Chinese investment in and co-management of Zarubino port may prove a key opening for Chinese buyers of Russian seafood.
“It’s very convenient, we get the product fast,” explains Wang Shan Ze, deputy manager at Hao Yun Yu Xiang who says local authorities ensure the crabs are processed in three hours by customs on arrival in Rongcheng – which is less than a day’s sailing from Zarubino.
The Russian crab, weighing an average 1.5 to 2.5 kg are marketed in Hao Yun advertorials in local newspapers as “green, no pollution, deep sea” seafood. The term “green” in China is often used to mean ecologically friendly and thus safe and nutritious.
“The quality of the [crab] meat is great and some of them are as big as 10 kg,” Wang added.
