China appears to be doubling down on imports from Russia, with a processing and distribution hub on the Sino-Russian border reporting a 41.5 percent increase in imports from Russia in the first eight months of the year.
According to the Customs Administration of Hunchun, a border city and seafood processing hub in Jilin Province on the border with Russian and North Korea, total imports rose to CNY 2.3 billion (USD 332 million, EUR 288.5 million) between January and September 2018. Imports of crab, at CNY 573 million (USD 82.7 million, EUR 81.9 million), jumped by 321 percent in the same timeframe.
Authorities in Hunchun have repeatedly stated an ambition to make the most of the city’s proximity to Russian ports like Zarubino – a mere 60 kilometers away and a key source of China’ s seafood imports from Russia – to become a key seafood processing and marketing hub for Asia. Hunchun has also been keen to exploit its access to inexpensive labor and plentiful seafood from North Korea.
North Korea has the potential to produce 10 million tons of aquatic products each year, according to Hunchun government official Li De Ping, who’s tasked with drawing enterprises to invest in the zone. The way he sees it, seafood from North Korea, as well as Chinese and North Korean aquaculture raw products, would be transported to the Hunchun Export Processing Zone for processing before being shipped out of nearby Rajin port in North Korea to destinations including like South Korea, Japan and Russia.
Seafood processors promoting the zone include squid-processing specialist Hunchun East Yang Industrial Co and Hunchun Honghao Food Industry and Trade Co., which ships shrimp, squid, and cuttlefish.
Meanwhile, Yantai Da Cheng has supplemented its main base on the coast with a newer plant in Huchun. The plant has a 12,000-ton annual capacity and the company is focused on selling into the European processed squid market.
