Agriculture & Food

Since 2019, China's domestic tuna market has entered a period of rapid development, the export of frozen whole tuna (bonito) has slowed down, and the demand for cooked frozen fish fillet and canned tuna has steadily increased.

Last week, the 10th International Tuna Summit was held in Vigo, Spain. Wang Long, chairman of Shandong Ocean Products Co., Ltd., introduced during the meeting that from 2019 to the first half of 2021, China imported 95,755 tons of tuna products, valued at US$184 million , Of which frozen bonito (whole fish) accounted for 81.5%.

In 2022, bonito imports doubled year-on-year to 44,360 tons. In 2021, imports continued to grow, and imports exceeded 29,000 tons in the first half of the year. In contrast, yellowfin tuna imports have declined.

In 2020, the import of frozen whole bonito will increase by 121% compared with the previous year, and it is expected to maintain a 40% growth rate in 2021. Shandong Province's import growth rate is stable, and Fujian Province's import volume has started from a low point, showing a significant growth trend.

In addition, starting this year, the proportion of tuna products directly mined has increased significantly, and the growth rate is much higher than that of the imported processing sector, which indicates that domestic demand has entered a stage of rapid growth.

Wang Long said that since 2014, the demand for canned tuna in China has gradually increased, and it still has a lot of growth potential. Tmall’s monthly canned tuna orders exceed 7,000 orders, and each order contains an average of 5 canned products. In contrast, the monthly orders of net celebrity crayfish on Tmall mall exceed 20,000, and the monthly sales of shelled and de-lined white shrimp, which ranks first, exceed 40,000.

In terms of exports, from 2019 to July 2021, China exported a total of 466,000 tons of tuna with a value of US$1.98 billion. Exports increased slightly in 2020, but fell sharply in 2021. Exports of frozen whole fish fell to 6,761 tons in the first July of this year.

In 2020, the export of canned products will increase by 10% to 136,256 tons, and it is expected that in 2021, it will exceed or remain at the same level as in 2020. Frozen fish steak exports fell 16% to 9,850 tons in 2020, but exports in the first seven months of 2021 have exceeded 9,000 tons.

Wang Long believes that the overseas canned food processing market's demand for China's frozen raw materials has declined, and China's local processing demand has increased. Zhejiang is the largest tuna processing province in China, focusing on the processing of cooked and frozen fish fillets. In addition to making fish fillets, the Fujian factory also produces canned food.