In 2021, from the epidemic 2.0 era to the epidemic 3.0 era, China's imported seafood market is bleak.
But there is a kind of seafood that seems to be open and hanging, not only bucking the trend out of the beautiful market, but also reaching a new high: it is China's fresh American crawfish import market. Let's review these two old texts first:
In the third quarter of 2021, China's American crayfish imports reached a new high, and Canadian lobster continued to be far ahead of American Maine lobster!
In the first 10 months of 2021, China's imports of American lobster increased by 89% year-on-year, and Canadian lobster imports increased by 72%! New retail and fresh e-commerce into the mainstream!
Now let's take a look at the results for all year 2021:
In 2019, China's annual imports were 475 million US dollars; in 2020, due to the epidemic, it decreased slightly to 453 million US dollars, a year-on-year decline of 4.8%; in 2021, it increased significantly to 681 million US dollars, an increase of 50.4% year-on-year! Such a brilliant result, even in the usual year is a miracle, not to mention in 2021, when the epidemic is strictly controlled!
Comparison of Imports of Fresh American Claw Lobster in 2020-2021 (Haiqiao Marketing)
2019-2021 Monthly Fresh American Claw Lobster Import Amount (Haiqiao Marketing)
Cumulative import amount of fresh American claw lobster in 2019-2021 (Haiqiao Marketing)
As for the reasons for the sharp increase in the import of fresh crayfish in 2021, the previous two articles have been very clear, and will not be repeated here. Interested students can review the above two old articles.
Here is a year-round review of the changes in import value in January-December 2021:
Comparing the three years of 2019, 2020 and 2021 vertically, we can see that even in 2020 and 2021, when the epidemic is serious, the rhythm of imports of fresh lobsters has not been disrupted. The only exception is March 2020, when imports were indeed very dismal. That is because of that month's data, there was a crazy report on the Internet that the import of American claw lobster was almost stopped because of the Sino-US trade war and tensions between China and Canada, and Canadian fishermen were crying in the toilet and the like.
But in fact, since April 2020, the import of fresh claw lobster has begun to recover, and the import value of each month of 2020 is basically flat compared with the months of 2019. In December 2020, it even set a record for the highest import value of the month.
Time to enter 2021, fresh crawfish imports are all the way open. In the 12 months of the year, except for December, which was inferior to the import value in December 2020, the remaining 11 months exceeded the months of 2019 and 2020.
Monthly fresh crawfish import data 2019-2021 (Haiqiao Marketing)
Such a strong market may surprise many people who sing about imported seafood. But facts speak louder than words, and the growing chinese consumer's fondness for American crayfish is a fact that cannot be changed.
The Canadian lobster continues to be far ahead of the Boston lobster
After the Sino-US trade war, the Boston Lobster returned to the Chinese market from September 2020 and achieved quite good results in the last four months of 2020.
Comparison of the amount of live lobster imported from Canada and the United States in 2020 (Haiqiao Marketing)
However, after entering 2021, the Boston Lobsters, in addition to a more eye-catching performance in January, the remaining 11 months of 2021 are completely crushed by Canada. Canadian lobsters have once again firmly occupied the Chinese market.
Comparison of the amount of live lobster imported from Canada and the United States in 2021 (Haiqiao Marketing)
Compared with the excellent result of 50.4% increase in the overall import value of fresh crawfish in 2021, the import value of live lobster in Canada increased by 55.4%, and the import value of live lobster in Maine in the United States increased by only 34.9%.
In China's market share, the proportion of Canadian live lobsters has further increased from 76.0% in 2020 to 78.5% in 2021, completely crushing the American fresh Maine lobster!
Comparison of Imports of Fresh American Crawfish in China in 2020-2021 (Haiqiao Marketing)
The reason behind the Canadian lobster's steady presence in the Chinese market
In our judgment, the main reasons include:
Excellent marketing by the Government of Canada, the Canadian Lobster Council, Beijing Haiqiao Company. Compared with the obscurity of the American Maine lobster in China, the marketing of Canadian lobster in China in 2021 is quite active. From new media publicity to offline supermarket promotions and hotel promotions, they have all done a good job.
For example, this set of "Canadian Lobster Origin Video" introduces the Canadian lobster industry and products from all aspects, and the excellent distribution of eight fresh seas on the whole network has also allowed thousands of consumers to have a further understanding of Canadian lobster!
The tireless efforts and long-distance relays of Canadian lobster exporters and carriers. The export of live lobster is a very difficult business, the main production area of Canadian lobster in Nova Scotia is far from China, the provincial capital Khalifakas Airport capacity is insufficient, many lobster exporters have to rent long-distance trucks to transport live lobster to Toronto, Montreal, Moncton and other urban airports, from where to take passenger planes to China. Throughout 2021, due to epidemic prevention and control reasons, China has fused many flights from Major Cities in Canada and the United States to China, which has also caused great pressure and uncertainty to the export of live lobsters. The epidemic prevention and control measures at Chinese airports in 2021 have also increased the difficulty and cost of direct flights to China by cargo and charter flights. But it was under such difficult circumstances that Canadian live lobster exporters and carriers made great efforts, actively cooperated with Chinese importers, completed almost impossible tasks, and once again created a miracle.
Cargo planes carrying lobsters on the cargo apron of busy Khalifakars Airport (CBC News)
Interview with Chinese media from Haiqiao Marketing at the Lobster Academy in Canada
A payoff, a harvest. We sincerely thank the importers, wholesalers and retailers in China for transporting lobster to hundreds of cities, thousands of supermarkets, tens of thousands of restaurants, millions of consumers.
Looking forward to the export of American claw lobster to China in 2022! I also hope that the American Maine lobster will have a chance to return to China!
Reprint Statement
This article is reprinted from Canadian Seafood!