China’s seafood exports fell in the first half of 2015 in value terms and remained largely flat in volume terms, mostly due to a surge in the value of the yuan.
Shipments rose a mere one percent in volume to 1.82 million tons compared to the same period last year but exports dropped two percent in value terms to CNY 56.4 billion (USD 9.02 billion, EUR 7.8 billion), according to data from China’s ministry of commerce. Unconfirmed reports from various Chinese sources suggest a sharp (in the region of 15 to 20 percent) decline in deep-processed seafood products in the first half of the year.
A breakdown of the seafood trade figures will be published by the ministry of agriculture, which oversees the fisheries sector. But the figures to hand compare poorly with data for the first quarter, when China’s seafood exports rose 6.9 percent in value to USD 4.6 billion (EUR 4.14 billion). This is a far cry from the 15 percent average annual growth in export values recorded by China between 2000 and 2013.
Several industry experts contacted by SeafoodSource all pointed to a stronger Chinese currency which is making exports pricier, especially for the key European and Japanese markets – the yuan rose by 0.2 percent in value against the dollar in the first half of this year but surged 6.9 percent against the Euro and 2.2 percent against the yen.
While disappointing to the seafood export sector, the figures are largely in line with China’s overall trade data for the first half of the year, with exports falling short of government growth targets due to weak European demand and a stronger Chinese currency.
Efforts to increase the share of seafood products sold at home are being complicated by a more pessimistic outlook for economic growth at home. China’s economy grew 7 percent in the first half of this year, a further slowing-down on the 7.4 percent recorded for 2014. Government has sought to boost growth by cutting bank lending rates but a pile-up of corporate and local government debt is making it harder for such measures to have an immediate effect.
Ultimately China is seeking to shift away from exports – which contribute 30 percent of the country’s GDP – to domestic consumption. But as the yuan and domestic wages both strengthen it’s likely that ultimately more and more of the country’s seafood will be consumed at home.
