STAG News Bites: 🖥️Australia-China customs facilitation webinar; 🦐China competitors secure market position;🐉Singapore year of the lobster

Some of these articles are in foreign languages and can be automatically translated on Google Chrome. 

Note: These articles are a round-up of news media in key seafood markets. The information is provided as part of our market intelligence service to Australian seafood exporters. The views expressed in the media articles are not those of the STAG and are in no way endorsed by us. 

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🖥️STAG webinar: Australia-China customs facilitation agreement

Australian Border Force (ABF) has agreed to brief STAG members and subscribers on customs facilitation measures as part of the recently-implemented Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) mutual recognition arrangement between China Customs (GACC) and ABF. Read the GACC announcement here (Chinese). 

Benefits under the agreement will be accessible to Australian companies accredited under the ‘Trusted Trader’ program. For more information, including a list of accredited businesses, visit the ABF website here. 

ABF will provide an online briefing and Q&A for STAG in the last week of February (likely 26th or 27th Feb). If you would like to attend the session, please  please visit https://seafoodtradeadvisory.com/ to register your interest (wait for the pop-up message) and we will provide further information, including timing, once this is available.

🦐China: Lobster export competitors establish market position

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that New Zealand lobsters now dominate the China import market, accounting for 40 percent of sales, followed by Mexico and the USA. Southeast Asian countries are also becoming established. 

The report says “analysts expect that the trend will not only intensify, it will become increasingly difficult to reverse the longer that Beijing’s protracted ban on Australian rock lobsters remains in effect.” 

Read more from SCMP here (login may be required). 

❌DAFF: EXDOC outages

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has advised all export documentation (EXDOC) system users of an expected system maintenance and associated outages below: 

• Saturday 27 January 2024 - 12:00 am to 4:00 am (AEDT)
• Saturday 27 January 2024 - 11:00 pm to Sunday 28 January 2024 - 3:25 am (AEDT)
• Sunday 28 January 2024 - 8:00 pm to 11:59 pm (AEDT)
• Wednesday 31 January 2024 - 11:00 pm to Thursday 1 February 2024 - 1:00 am (AEDT)

See the full Industry Advice Notice on the DAFF website here

🐉Singapore: Aussie lobster for the year of the dragon

Singapore’s Zaobao.com.sg looks at culinary and other preparations for the lunar new year period. According to the report: “Eating lobster in the Year of the Dragon brings good luck. Taking advantage of the arrival of the Year of the Dragon, lobster sales in local fisheries have increased, and Australian lobster has become the most popular "Internet celebrity". 

Spiny lobsters are strongly associated with dragons in regional cultural traditions, due to their long whiskers and fearsome appearance. The Chinese word for lobster combines the two characters for ‘dragon’ and ‘prawn’. Read more here (Chinese). 

Shoppers inspect a West Australian rock lobster at a Singapore seafood market (credit: zaobao.com.sg)

💹China: Seafood updates

China Ningbo Network reports from the Ningbo Aquatic Products Wholesale Market: “the prices of general fish, shrimps and crabs were basically the same as the same period last year, and slightly higher than the previous period. "Compared with the same period last year, the price of high-end seafood (that is, large-sized, high-quality) seafood has dropped significantly, generally by 20% to 30%” Read the article here (Chinese). 

China Central Television (CCTV) reports on cold water fish markets near Beijing picking up steam ahead of the upcoming festival period. Watch the video here (Chinese, no english subtitles)

While tuna is normally more associated with the Japanese and Western markets (e.g. sashimi and canned product formats), the China Aquatic Products account on Wechat offers some analysis on tuna consumption trends in China. Until now, it has been “difficult to find it on the daily dining tables of Chinese people. As the economy and consumption levels continue to upgrade, we have ushered in an era of iteration from eating enough in the past to eating "well". The pursuit of high-quality, fresh and green seafood ingredients has also become the trend of the times, and tuna has entered the horizons of Chinese consumers.” Read more here (Chinese). 

The Shanghai Fisheries Industry Association held an ‘imported seafood promotion conference’ “to guide and regulate the edible imported seafood market, ensure food safety, and promote the construction, cultivation, publicity and promotion of Shanghai seafood brands”. This report (Chinese) includes lots of photos of the event. 

🌴TRL: regional cooperation agreement 

Vietnam and Indonesia have signed a tropical rock lobster farming investment and cooperation agreement, ending Jakarta's ban on larvae exports. Read more here. 

A lobster larva (Image by Fathul Rakhman/Mongabay Indonesia)

📈Malaysia: Seafood prices riding high

Malaysia’s China Press reports on the seafood market situation in Kuala Lumpur: “The wholesale price of prawns has increased from more than 40 ringgits per kilogram to more than 60 ringgits two weeks ago, the price of pomfret has increased from more than 70 ringgits per kilogram to more than 100 ringgits, and the price of grouper has increased from more than 30 ringgits to around 35 ringgits per kilogram.” 

However, “Due to the poor economy, neither restaurants nor families are seen buying seafood on a large scale during the Spring Festival.” Read more here (Chinese). 

🗾Japan: Lobster fest

“Enjoy original menus arranged using the cooking methods of each head chef at six restaurants, using the two major seafood ingredients, lobster and abalone, which are said to be the jewels of the sea, as the main ingredients.” See the chefs’ impressive creations here (Japanese). 

“Japanese cuisine Shikisai / Isohana - Whole Ise lobster and abalone course” (credit: PR Times)

🏆Japan: Lobster is the ultimate prize

Winning contestants in a Japanese competition were awarded somewhat unexpected, but nonetheless incredible, prizes: “On the award ceremony stage for the Japan Race Queen Award, Kirishima, Hinami, and Minami looked confused for a moment when they were suddenly handed spiny lobsters, but after that they smiled, held the spiny lobsters, and laughed. They shared their joy with the venue, which was filled with excitement.” Find out more here (Japanese).

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The Seafood Trade Advisory Group (STAG) is jointly funded by the Australian government and the fishing industry. We receive funds from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC).which is a statutory authority within the portfolio of the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Water and the Environment. 

 Any information provided in this STAG publication is general in nature. Before acting on any information provided, you should consider its appropriateness to your individual circumstances and business objectives.