Mexico is proving a promising buyer for China’s leading tilapia producing region of Maoming, which has reported a record year for exports in 2018.
The region shipped 119,000 metric tons (MT) of seafood worth CNY 3.6 billion (USD 534.4 million, EUR 465.9 million), up 38.5 percent and 24.7 percent, respectively. Tilapia exports totaled 100,200 MT worth CNY 2.5 billion (USD 371.1 million, EUR 323.5 million) – up 42.5 percent and 39.9 percent, respectively, according to the local customs bureau, which claims Maoming has for four years been China’s leading tilapia exporting region.
The U.S. remains the top market for Maoming seafood exports, buying CNY 950 million (USD 141 million, EUR 123 million), up 24.6 percent year-on-year. Mexico bought CNY 690 million (USD 102.4 million, EUR 89.3 million) worth (it’s not clear how much of the total amount is made up of tilapia), which is a 78.2 percent increase on the previous year.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (also known as One Belt One Road) countries are a “new focal point of growth” in seafood exports, according to Customs which notes these countries – which covers a huge range of countries in Asia, Africa, and eastern Europe - bought CNY 600 million (USD 89 million, EUR 77.7 million) worth of Maoming’s seafood exports, up 15.2 percent year-on-year.
It’s not clear how much is any of the growth in shipments to Mexico is made up of transshipments into the U.S. Tilapia represents 85.8 percent of overall seafood exports in volume terms, and 70.3 percent in value terms. Shrimp accounted for 9.2 percent of volume and 23.9 percent of value in overall exports. Value-added shrimp totaled 11,000 MT worth CNY 730 million (USD 108.3 million, EUR 94.5 million) – up 21.4 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
