China’s growth in shipments of tilapia volumes went flat in 2014. But the fastest-growing export category in China’s seafood exports was shellfish at 272,900 million metric tons (MT) worth USD 1.70 billion (EUR 1.5 billion), up 16.5 percent and 26.1 percent, respectively, year-on-year. That’s according to data collected from China’s Customs authorities by SeafoodSource and checked against figures from the agriculture and commerce ministries.
Mollusks were the top Chinese seafood export product in 2014. The category Chinese Customs terms ‘squid/cuttlefish/octopus’ accounted for 16.6 percent of overall exports — making it the top ranking export category in value and volume terms on 413,000 MT, worth USD 2.67 billion (EUR 2.35 billion). The second-placed export category, shrimp, accounted for 10.6 percent of exports with 179,000 MT worth USD 2.20 million (EUR 1.94 million) exported in 2014. That’s down 16 percent in volume and 0.8 percent in value terms on the previous year.
Export data was tepid for two key categories of fish in southern China’s huge aquaculture sector: Tilapia was in fourth place, (at 9.47 percent of overall exports) on 403,000 MT worth USD 1.50 billion (EUR 1.32 billion) — down 0.20 percent and up 4.60 percent respectively, showing export volumes have gone flat even if export prices for tilapia are holding up. Exports of eel, much of which go to Japan, also appear in trouble, falling 5 percent in value terms (while rising 7 percent in volume terms). Notably, at USD 1 billion (EUR 1.13 billion) in value terms, eel exports remain a very valuable niche for China.
Meanwhile, exports of crabs at 60,000 MT in volume and USD 900 million (EUR 795 million) were up 6.3 percent and 14.2 percent respectively. There was flat growth for large yellow croaker fish, which dropped 2.5 percent to 16,000 MT and rose 1.8 percent in value terms to USD 380 million (EUR 335 million).
The weaker figures for eel exports could be explained by slower price growth from Japan — which remains China’s top export market. It last year bought 66.2 million MT of Chinese seafood worth USD 3.8 billion (EUR 3.35 billion), up 3.9 percent and down 2.8 percent respectively.
Growth was certainly obvious in the U.S. market, with 58.2 million MT (up 2.16 percent) worth USD 3.39 billion (EUR 2.99 billion), up 6.18 percent. China’s third biggest seafood market, ASEAN, bought 52.6 million MT, up 7.7 percent year on year and up a whopping 14.1 percent in value terms to USD 2.71 billion (EUR 2.39 billion). Ranked fourth among China’s markets is Hong Kong, a transshipment hub as well as a seafood consumer, ranked fourth on 23.15 million MT and value of USD 2.52 billion (EUR 2.22) – down 2 percent and up 5.8 percent respectively.
That makes Hong Kong a more valuable market than the fifth-ranked EU, which paid USD 2.36 billion (up 3.7 percent) for 55.37 MT (down 1 percent). The two markets showing the strongest growth were Korea and Taiwan, sixth and seventh respectively. Korea bought 50.2 million MT (up 20.8 percent on 2013) worth USD 1.68 billion (up 20 percent) while Taiwan bought 13.6 million MT (up 8.79 percent) worth USD 1.56 billion (up 24.7 percent).
“The export market is generally favorable now…with double-digit growth in many markets…since 2014 the United States, Britain and other countries are gradually emerging from the financial crisis and the impact of the European debt crisis,” noted a research document published by the Chinese Academy of Fisheries this month. The paper predicted Chinese seafood exports will benefit from “pent-up consumer demand” overseas and China’s own strategy to “vigorously promote” free trade agreements in order to open markets.