Latest Australian seafood export report - volume, value and destinations

Source: Department of Agriculture

Every six months the Department of Agriculture provides a report to the Seafood Export Consultative Committee (SECC) that details Australia’s seafood exports – volume, value and destinations. The STAG secretariat attends the SECC meetings and provides these reports to STAG members following each meeting.

You can access the latest report by clicking here

Image credit:  Emily Mantilla

New food safety regulations for China - comparisons between the old and the new

Various sources: Chinese Government, 31st October 2019

China has released a revised Regulation on the Implementation of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China. This Regulation will enter into force as of 1st December 2019 and will supersede the version released in 2009 (and revised in 2016). The Regulation covers all food forms, including live, chilled, frozen and dried seafood.

To read the full article and to discover the differences between the old and revised version, click here

Hong Kong food and beverage businesses post steepest fall in third quarter since 2003 Sars outbreak

Source: South China Morning Post, 5th November 2019

Restaurant sector receipts declined 11.7 percent year on year between July and September 2019 with no signs of improvement in the near term as revealed recently by the Census and Statistics Department data.

A government spokesman said the sharp fall between July and September marked the steepest year-on-year decline since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak hit Hong Kong in the second quarter of 2003.

To read more, click here

SafeFish update

Source: SafeFish

SafeFish held its quarterly meeting during October 2019 with participants from the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, the New Zealand Seafood Industry Association, representatives from Australian seafood industry sectors (wholesale, processing, import and export fields), and researchers.

Topic highlights and the decisions made can be found by clicking here

Sustainability gaining ground in Chinese markets

Source: Seafood Source, Chris Chase, 6th November 2019

Among the sea of Chinese companies exhibiting a huge variety of species and equipment at the 2019 China Seafood Expo in Qingdao, China, one thing that was in greater abundance than ever before were displays showcasing products certified to a sustainability scheme.

To read more click here

Image:  Jayne Gallagher

Alipay and WeChat Pay now connecting to overseas bank cards

Source: Tencent, 6th November 2019

During November 2019, Alipay and WeChat announced their new services that connect to foreign bank cards.  In the past, both companies used to support only Chinese domestic bank cards.

Alipay announced that international mobile numbers may be used to register for an Alipay account, and that international bank cards may be used to bind with the account. This was followed that WeChat Pay has partnered with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover Global Network (Diners Club) and JCB.

To read the full article, click here

ASC and MSC stand out at Japan International Seafood and Technology Expo

Source: Seafood Source, Chris Loew, 4th September 2019

At the 2019 Japan International Seafood and Technology Expo held at Tokyo Big Sight during August this year – Asia’s largest show with 35,000 visitors – one of the most noticeable changes was the many booths with prominent signage indicating Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) products. 

To read more, click here

After WeChat and Weibo - what's next?

Source: JingDaily, Jessica Rapp, 13th November 2019

Chinese consumers are starting to spend less time on WeChat and Weibo.

In a bid to break WeChat’s dominance, Alibaba, Jingdong and ByteDance are all developing new social platforms that target students, turning the college campus into a crucial battleground for the future of Chinese social media.

Brands need to be where Gen Z are or risk losing out on China’s wealthiest generation of consumers to date.

To read more click here

New species identification APP for China

Source: Qs Journal, 5th November 2019

A new APP for identifying aquatic organisms was announced in October 2019 thanks to a collaborative effort by five Chinese organisations.

The APP will be available online in 2020 and will initially, identify over 700 species of aquatic organisms.

The APP aims to enhance consumers’ awareness of fish names and the public identification of seafood species, as well as help with the management of aquaculture and wild catch.

To read the full article, click here