Just as a trade war between China and the United States is hitting fever pitch, a survey of 80 fresh markets across China conducted jointly by the China Fisheries Academy and the country’s Agriculture Ministry shows seafood prices are rising across the country.
Overall seafood prices in June averaged at CNY 24.08 (USD 3.61, EUR 3.09) per kilogram, up 2.62 percent year-on-year. That’s well ahead of an overall consumer price index increase of 1.9 percent for the month, the survey found.
Prices for seawater products were at an average of CNY 44.95 (USD 6.73, EUR 5.76), up 4.78 percent. But freshwater produce at an average CNY 15.97 (USD 2.39, EUR 2.05) per kilogram was down 0.06 percent year-on-year.
The total volume of sales at the 57 largest of the wholesale markets surveyed rose an average 0.43 percent, but rose 2.87 percent in value terms in June.
Food price inflation could continue to increase as Beijing hikes duties on imports like U.S. soy, which is a key input into feed for animals and aquaculture.
China is looking more to imports to keep seafood prices in check as it enforces its strictest-ever fishing ban in its own domestic sea waters, which is in place through September. The government has also initiated a crackdown on illegal aquaculture sites in the country’s inland areas.
Imports from Vietnam grew 16.7 percent in the first half of 2018 to USD 586 million (EUR 502 million), while purchases for the same period from the U.S.A. – Vietnam’s top buyer – dropped 1.3 percent to USD 626 million (EUR 536 million), making China the Southeast Asian nation’s third-most import buyer after Japan and the U.S.
The Chinese wholesale market data for June shows seawater fish are in demand, while average prices for freshwater fish dropped 6.45 percent year-on-year. Several premium freshwater fish species, however, continue to perform well. For example, Mandarin fish prices averaging CNY 73.18 (USD 10.96, EUR 9.38) per kilogram, up 3.68 percent on May prices. Even with softer shrimp prices this summer in China, overall freshwater crustacean prices rose 12.1 percent year-on-year, stabilized by continued strong demand for crayfish, which averaged CNY 48.08 (USD 7.20, EUR 6.16) per kilogram in June.
Food price inflation in China, meanwhile, is being tamed by low pork prices, which are currently in a cyclical trough due to oversupply. But China has promised to respond in kind to a U.S. government plan to put duties of 10 percent on Chinese seafood imports – including on mainstays like frozen tilapia filets – from August.
