STAG News Bites: 💹China becomes net seafood importer; 🦞US lobstermen sue aquarium; 🤝Brunei lobsters enter China

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. 

💹 China becomes net seafood importing nation 

According to Rabobank’s senior seafood analyst, China has shifted from being a seafood
exporting country to a net importer in the last 12 months. This represents “one of the most
significant shifts that he’s covered to date”.

Read more about the drivers of change and the implications for global seafood trade on The
Fish Site here.

Seafoodsource.com reports on the same shift, noting that Norway is now the world’s largest
seafood exporter. Read the story here.

Image: thefishsite.com/articles/a-seismic-shift-in-the-global-seafood-trade-china-rabobank

🦞 Maine lobster industry sues aquarium  

According to a report from the Associated Press, “A coalition representing the Maine lobster industry is suing an aquarium on the other side of the country for recommending that seafood customers avoid buying a variety of lobster mostly harvested in their state.”  

Read more here.  

Image: Robert F. Bukaty/AP

🤝 China: Brunei lobster enters market 

China News reports on a recent shipment of rock lobsters from Brunei passing customs inspection in Shanghai, the first arrival since a wild-caught seafood export protocol was agreed between the two countries in 2019.  

A local customs official provides some insight into the clearance procedures used to facilitate the imports: “This time, before Brunei's 'Splendid Lobster' arrived in Hong Kong, we used the customs-enterprise liaison mechanism to connect with importers in advance to grasp the arrival information, implement two-step declarations, advance declarations and other convenient measures, innovate the supervision model, improve supervision efficiency, and coordinate Arrange for inspection customs officers to ensure that the inspection will be carried out as soon as the goods arrive at the port." Read the full article here (Chinese).  

Brunei is also stepping up imports of seafood. Read about a recent deal to distribute farmed barramundi in the market here.  

Customs officers inspect Brunei's imported "Splendid Lobster" Photo by Chen Xin

⛔ Hong Kong: Authorities consider restricting Japanese seafood imports 

International buyers of Japanese seafood have expressed concerns over Tokyo’s plans to dispose of water used to cool melted nuclear fuel at Japan’s Fukushima power plant by discharging it into the ocean.  

According to the South China Morning Post, “Hong Kong’s Environment and Ecology Bureau said the city could impose restrictions on importing aquatic food from Fukushima and nearby prefectures if Japan went ahead with the plan. Options on the table included an outright ban or requiring a radiation-free certificate for certain aquatic products”  

Read the full story here.  

🦐 China: Live e-commerce seafood sales  

China’s live sales e-commerce trend shows no signs of slowing down. However, as STAG News Bites has reported previously, seafood buyers (and sellers) should be wary of substitution and other fraudulent activity when purchasing seafood online during live sales events. Read more about a case involving possible substitution of wild-caught Ecuadorian prawns for farmed product here.  

🦪 Japan: Oyster exports 

Amid falling local oyster production and consumption, Japanese oyster farmers are looking to re-vitalise the industry through exports. Read more here.  

🐍 EU: Eels in danger 

European activists are pushing to “roll out sector-wide transparency rules and certification for eel traders in Europe” in efforts to halt the decline in numbers of the endangered European eel. Read more here.  

European eel (Anguilla anguilla). Photograph: imageBROKER/Alamy

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