China continues to seek supplies of fish to make up for squeezed local supply, judging from wholesale pricing data for the first half of the year.
In the first six months of the year, freshwater seafood prices rose 3.14 percent on the same period last year, but the main driver was fish, according to a survey of the 80 top seafood wholesale markets in China conducted by the ministry of agriculture.
Of 49 species surveyed, the prices for 21 rose in the first half of 2017 – there was a 10 percent rise for prices of grass carp, Spanish mackerel (also known as Japanese mackerel in China) and horse face puffer fish. Prices for tilapia sold in Chinese wholesale markets rose by 7 percent to an average CNY15.7/kg (USD 2.3/kg, EUR 2/kg).
Meanwhile, prices for 16 species were down. At the luxury end of the market, prices for Japanese shrimp at CNY255.1/kg fell by 5.7 percent.
Overall, the volumes sold at the 80 markets were down 2.7 percent, at 4.37 million tons, but up 1.94 percent in terms of the value sold – RMB 91 billion – which suggests tightening of supply. China has a moratorium on fishing of domestic waters in place from May until 1 September.
