STAG News Bites:🤝China trade facilitation; 🐚China abalone market;📺SeafoodTube

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. 

This is the final STAG News Bites for 2023 - please enjoy this bumper edition with additional content for the holidays 🎁

🤝China-Australia: AEO recognition to facilitate trade

China Customs (GACC) has announced an Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) mutual recognition arrangement between GACC and Australian Border Force (ABF) will be formally implemented from 14 December 2023. The agreement, originally signed in 2017, will provide customs clearance facilitation for goods imported from each other's AEO companies. Read the GACC announcement here (Chinese). 

The Global Times reports on the announcement here. 

Australia’s AEO’s are those companies accredited under the Trusted Trader program. For more information, including a list of accredited businesses, visit the ABF website here. 

 🐚China: Abalone market research

China’s iiMedia Consulting has released the “2023 China Abalone Food Consumption Market Research Report”. The report has detailed information on consumer preferences and attitudes, pricing, branding and marketing strategies, the food service sector, and e-commerce channels:

“In recent years, the abalone food industry has accelerated its transformation, established channel cooperation with e-commerce and retail platforms, and used innovative channels such as short videos and live broadcasts to promote abalone into the era of mass consumption. Online e-commerce platforms have become the main sales channels for abalone food brands. Through KOC delivery and short video content marketing, they can expand abalone food brand awareness and attract more potential consumers for consumption.” 

Read the report here (Chinese). 

🌴China: Tropical Rock Lobster trade restrictions

Seafoodsource.com reports on the impact of China’s ban on wild-caught Tropical Rock Lobster for Vietnam’s export industry. Read here (login may be required). 

Retail News Asia reports China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao was asked by his Vietnamese counterpart to re-open the trade: “Responding to the request, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said Vietnamese ornate rock lobster farms and packing facilities need to register with China Customs (GACC). Relevant departments in both countries need to inspect and review businesses and aquaculture facilities that export the lobsters to China, he said further.” Read more here. 

🥩China: Some red meat access restored

ABC reports three red meat export establishments have had their China listings restored by GACC. The plants were suspended due to workers contracting Covid-19 in 2020. Seven establishments are still to regain listing with suspensions relating to labelling and contaminants issues. Read the story from ABC here. 

Beef Central has more in-depth reporting here.

🗣️DAFF: Feedback sought on departmental charging guidelines

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry (DAFF) is reviewing the Departmental Charging Guidelines to identify what changes are needed to create a more user friendly and useful resource for stakeholders. 

If you would like to provide your views, please reach out to the Export Cost Recovery Team at: costrecovery@aff.gov.au, by 5 January 2024.

📈China: Hubei seafood market conditions

A Hubei Daily reporter visited Hankou North Market and found “The price of frozen seafood is currently stable. As the new year is approaching, the price of chilled seafood will rise slightly… As a representative of high-end consumption, the market price of live king crab has risen from 139 yuan per catty at the end of October to 220 yuan now, and may approach 300 yuan before the Spring Festival.” 

Read more here (Chinese). 

🗾Japan: Seafood trade disruption update

Beijing’s ban on imports has disrupted a global value chain whereby Japanese scallops had largely been shelled in China and then exported to the USA for final consumption. Tokyo is now reportedly seeking processing partners in Vietnam that could fill China’s previous role. Read more from Japan News here. 

Nikkei Asia reports healthy and growing demand for Japanese fishery products in Thailand: “During the past couple of decades, Thais have demonstrated a growing affinity for Japanese foods. Thailand had 5,325 Japanese restaurants in 2022, a sharp increase from 745 in 2007”. Read more here. 

Channel News Asia takes an in-depth look at the water discharge and food safety issues in this video. 

Thousands of dead sardines and mackerel have mysteriously washed up on a Northern Japanese beach. Read more here. 

🐟Export Success: Austral Fisheries’ toothfish brand

Entertaining article from Forbes Australia about the establishment of Austral’s toothfish brand, Glacier 51, and the company’s efforts to rid the fishery of ‘pirates’. Read the story here. 

💹Japan: Impacts of Covid-19 on seafood prices

Food Navigator Asia writes about a new study, ‘The impacts of COVID-19 on seafood prices in Japan: A comparison between cheap and luxury products’. 

Unsurprisingly, the study found that “among seafood, since luxury seafood is more commonly consumed at restaurants it has a higher possibility of getting affected by the pandemic compared with cheap popular seafood for the masses.” 

Food Navigator Asia reports here. Access the full study here. 

📺SeafoodTube: A selection of new seafood videos

How to prepare and cook an Australian Tropical Rock Lobster (Chinese): A chef demonstrates several techniques, including sashimi, fried, and boiled dishes incorporating a huge Aussie TRL on China’s Bilibili.

Live spiny lobster sales (Japanese): See how Japan’s Ise Ebi spiny lobsters are live packed and sent to customers. Three fish for ¥10,800 

Healthy demand for Australian yabbies: ABC News reports on demand for local yabbies, including from Hong Kong and Singapore. 

Global seafood market update: Tradex presents a (possibly AI-generated) seafood news summary covering China, EU tariffs, and market shifts. 

🌏IUU: Global tracking initiative

Global Fishing Watch has received USD $60 million in funding towards a worldwide fisheries monitoring program aimed at combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. 

According to Global Seafood Alliance, “leveraging open data and emerging technology, the non-profit plans to publicly map more than 1 million ocean vessels and fixed infrastructure to better understand sea activities. It’s already built the first-ever map to visualize and track 70,000 fishing vessels in near real-time, and currently, more than 20 countries use its map and data, with 12 of these publicly sharing their vessel tracking data.” 

Read more here. 

📃The Seafood Stewardship Index 

The World Benchmark Alliance has rankeds the sustainability performance of the world’s 30 most influential seafood companies, which represent about a quarter of the world’s global seafood industry revenue. Thai Union topped the list. See the full details here. 

🦀Indonesia: Seafood industry overview

A basic, but informative overview of Indonesia’s seafood industry including its trade profile. “The top ten fish products exported in terms of value are grouper, shrimp, tuna, squid, crab, seaweed, tilapia, pearl, and belt fish. The Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries reported that the country's fisheries exports reached a value of $7.2 billion in 2020. The United States and Japan are currently the two main markets for Indonesia's fish exports.” 

Read more from Ocean Treasure News here.

The STAG is funded by partners:

www.seafoodtradeadvisory.com

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.