Abstract: According to statistics, as of 2022, the output of aquatic products processed in mainland China will be 21.4779 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 1.07%, of which the output of seawater processed products will be 17.0915 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 0.02%, and the output of freshwater processed products will be 4.3864 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 5.39%. Marine food has the characteristics of low fat content, high protein content and rich trace elements, which caters to the market trend of healthy diet, and the stable consumer demand has made the total amount of seafood processed in mainland China increase steadily.
1. Definitions and Classification
Aquatic product processing refers to the use of aquatic organisms as raw materials, and the processing of aquatic products at different depths to achieve the purpose of strengthening the preservation of aquatic products, preparing surimi and dry pickled products, and extracting nutrients from aquatic organisms. At present, the aquatic product processing industry in mainland China is mainly based on primary processing, with low added value of processing, few deep-processed products, and low overall processing technology level. Aquatic product processing and aquatic food intensive processing industry is in an important position in the aquatic industry chain, and plays a supporting role in the marketization and industrialization operation of the entire industry.
The aquatic product processing industry can be divided into subdivided industries such as frozen processing of aquatic products, surimi products and dry salting of aquatic products, fish oil extraction and product manufacturing and other aquatic product processing according to the different processing methods and finished products.
Second, industry policies
In recent years, the state has promulgated a series of encouraging policies, which are conducive to the development of the mainland's aquatic product processing industry in the direction of large-scale, deep processing and the whole industrial chain. In January 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Fisheries", which will promote the transformation and upgrading of fisheries, enhance the competitiveness of fisheries, ensure the quality and safety of processed aquatic products in rural areas, and promote scientific and technological innovation in fisheries. The 12 major projects planned at the same time will contribute to the achievement of these goals. In February 2023, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Key Work of Rural Revitalization in 2023", proposing to promote the transformation and upgrading of large-scale livestock and poultry farms and aquaculture ponds. Support the construction of the cold chain and ensure the smooth flow of goods, guide producers to enter the deep processing production with higher added value, so as to further enrich the supply of aquatic processed products and meet the growing diversified consumption needs of residents, so as to achieve the goal of becoming bigger and stronger.
Third, the development process
China's aquatic products industry has a long history, and before 1949, salt, ice preservation and salting were mainly used as processing methods. As early as 1915, a seafood canning factory was opened in Shandong, China, mainly to manufacture canned meat and canned fish. After 1949, with the successive planning and formulation of China's fishery policy, China's aquatic product processing industry entered a stage of orderly development, but aquatic products were still in short supply. After 1978, with the opening of the reform and opening up process and the government's further attention to the development of fishery, the aquatic product processing industry has achieved a great breakthrough from the producer to the output, and the aquatic product industry has entered a stage of rapid development, and gradually moved towards a mature period in the competition of more and more enterprises.
Fourth, industry barriers
1. Technical barriers
Mature enterprises in the aquatic product processing industry can carry out refined development, have sufficient response capabilities in processing technology improvement, product quality improvement, product innovation, etc., equipped with a high degree of mechanization, automation and complete sets of processing production lines, and train stable professional and technical research and development talents in long-term practice. It takes a long time for new entrants in the aquatic product processing industry to explore and accumulate these elements.
2. Food safety barriers
In August 2022, the National Health Commission issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for Food Safety Standards and Monitoring and Evaluation", proposing to carry out systematic analysis and research on the existing food safety standard system, benchmark against international advanced standards, and create a higher-quality food safety standard system in line with the international advanced risk management concept and the actual development of the mainland. Track the needs of food safety standards in planting and breeding, production and processing, storage and transportation, catering and other links, accelerate the formulation and revision of general standards such as the limit of pollutants in food, the limit of pathogenic bacteria, the use of food additives, and labeling, supplement and improve the standards for food production and operation, and add standards for supplemental, microbiological and toxicological testing methods, and improve standards for food additives and food-related products. The production mode of the aquatic product processing industry in mainland China is still relatively extensive, and it has not been equipped with safety production measures on a large scale, while the access standards of the aquatic product processing industry are gradually improving, and food safety has become one of the main barriers to entering the aquatic product processing industry.
3. Brand barriers
With the improvement of people's consumption level, the upgrading of consumption structure, the transformation of consumption patterns, and the increasing awareness of food safety, aquatic product consumers pay more attention to the quality, safety, nutrition, etc. of products, and trust big brands and famous consumer brands, which has become a trend and inevitable. The aquatic product processing industry is currently in the stage of brand dispersion, mutual checks and balances, the industry of large enterprises focus on the layout of the country, through years of accumulation and investment, has established a clear brand advantage, has achieved a high brand recognition and reputation. To build a well-known brand, it requires not only a lot of investment, but also a long period of accumulation and precipitation. New entrants are either time-consuming and laborious to build their brand and image, or they can only compete fiercely in traditional and low-price products, with small profits and living space, and high substitution, and will be in a disadvantageous position to compete with enterprises with brand advantages in a short period of time.
4. Barriers to large-scale production
Product safety and quality assurance, technology research and development and cold chain processing equipment investment, brand building and channel expansion and maintenance, all require aquatic product processing enterprises to have a large scale advantage, in order to digest and share the intermediate costs. Therefore, the new entrants in the aquatic product processing industry must reach a certain economic scale in order to compete with the existing aquatic product processing enterprises in terms of equipment, technology, cost, talent, etc., otherwise they can only develop disorderly at a low level and at a low level. As a result, the required funds for fixed asset investment, the level of cold chain processing control and the number of skilled production workers and other factors required for large-scale production will form certain obstacles to the development of new entrants in the aquatic product processing industry and small enterprises in the industry.
5. Sales barriers
Having a global sales network and the implementation of effective management is the key to the survival of aquatic product processing enterprises, but the laying of sales channels is not achieved overnight, it takes a huge cost of capital and time, for the domestic sales network, it is necessary to lay out online and offline channels at the same time, in order to obtain stable consumer groups, for overseas sales networks, need to rely on many years of strategic cooperative relations, to gain the trust of customers, in order to have a stable overseas customer group. Simply relying on abundant funds does not necessarily solve the problem, the need for enterprises in the long-term business process to gradually improve and accumulate, and establish a set of perfect, scientific sales channel management system and system; aquatic product processing industry new entrants began to try to brand building and sales channel laying, it takes a long time to begin to take shape.
Fifth, the industrial chain
1. Analysis of the industry chain
The upstream of the aquatic product processing industry is the marine fishing industry and the aquatic product aquaculture industry. In recent years, due to marine pollution, overfishing of marine materials and other reasons, the supply of marine fishing aquatic products has been limited to a certain level, which cannot meet the growing market demand. Therefore, aquaculture is a powerful supplement to aquatic raw materials, with the strong support and encouragement of aquaculture by the state, the continuous development of aquaculture technology, in recent years, the amount of aquaculture in mainland China has continued to rise sharply, effectively ensuring the supply of raw materials for aquatic processing. According to statistics, the total output of aquatic products in the mainland in 2023 will be 71 million tons, of which the total output of seawater and freshwater aquaculture will be 58.12 million tons, accounting for 82% of the total output of aquatic products. Aquatic product aquaculture occupies a dominant position in mainland aquatic products, and with the increasing consumer demand, aquatic product aquaculture will continue to maintain a considerable growth trend.
The downstream market of aquatic product processing industry includes domestic and foreign supermarkets, large distributors, etc., and the terminal is consumers. With the development of the mainland economy and the rise of people's living standards, the demand for aquatic products containing high-quality protein and rich nutrients has gradually increased. Therefore, the increasing market demand of the downstream industry will promote the increase in the scale of the aquatic product processing industry, and the upgrading of the consumption structure will also guide the development direction of the aquatic product processing industry. At the same time, the development of aquatic product sales channels and the convenience of circulation have further expanded the aquatic product consumption market.
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