Eel is one of the native products of Fuqing. Since the Ming Dynasty, Fuqing has been extensively raising eels. The "Zhiqing ▪ Qianlong of Fuqing County" records that the genus ▪ of local public opinion ▪ scales is recorded: "Eels resemble eels and have large abdomens, and have yellow scales in color." Those who go out to sea are similar and large. Seaman name cichlis". The eel industry and the Fuqing people are inextricably linked, a group of entrepreneurs dug the first bucket of gold in the eel's body, and many families have collapsed in the ups and downs of the eel industry. What is the current situation of Fuqing's eel industry?
Eels are a magical creature that prefers to inhabit clean, pollution-free waters and is one of the purest aquatic creatures in the world. The nutritional value of eels is very high, with the reputation of "ginseng in the water", and is regarded as a good product for nourishment and beauty. Eel seedlings are "soft gold in the water".
Eels grow in rivers on land, migrate to the ocean to spawn when they mature, lay eggs only once in their lives, and die after spawning. This mode of life is known as descending migratory. The life history of eels is divided into 6 stages: 1. Egg stage: spawning in the deep sea. 2, willow leaf eel: in the ocean with the ocean current long distance drifting, at this time the body is flat and transparent, thin as willow leaves, easy to follow the waves. 3, glass eel: in the water near the coast, the body becomes streamlined to get out of the strong ocean current. 4. Eel line: When entering the estuarine waters, melanin begins to appear, which is the source of capture for farmed eel fry. 5. Yellow eel: During the growth of the river, the belly of the fish appears yellow. 6. Silver eel: When mature, the fish body transforms into a silvery white similar to a deep-sea fish, and migrates to the deep sea to spawn.
The sex of eels is determined by the acquired environment, controlled by environmental factors and density, when the density is high, it will become a male fish, and vice versa. The special life history of eels is difficult to simulate in the human environment, so the artificial reproduction of eels is a worldwide problem. Eels mainly include Japanese eels, European eels, American eels and other species, usually referred to as native eels refer to Japanese eels or Asian eels.
The eel industry was once known as the "soft gold" industry. Freshwater eels are a new commodity discovered and exported by Fujian Province in the 1960s. Since 1963, our province has been exporting freshwater live eels. Because the export of 1 ton of live eels can earn about 6,000 US dollars in foreign exchange, which is more than double the foreign exchange income of exporting eel fry. Therefore, our province vigorously develops the export of artificially cultivated live eels, and lists live eels as key export commodities for support. Fuqing's eel industry also started from eel farming.
In 1979, the first year of the Chronicle of the Fuqing Eel Industry, the Japanese cement pond factory chemical eel breeding technology introduced in the form of compensatory trade was settled in Nanwan Village, Shangjie Commune, and the eel factory cement pond area was 18 acres, with an annual output of 60 tons of live eels, all exported to Japan. In 1980, high-density flowing eel culture technology was introduced from Japan, and eel production increased year by year. Consulting the "Statistics of the National Economy of Fuqing County", in 1985, for the first time, "eel farming" was listed separately in the "freshwater aquaculture": the area of eels cultivated in the whole society was 52 mu, and the output was 284 quintals. In 1986, "live eel" was included for the first time in the item "The total value of major commodities purchased by foreign trade and the earnings of foreign exchange": the actual performance of the year was 75.73 tons. In 1988, foreign trade purchased 472.31 tons of live eels, with a value of 18.0003 million yuan, and live eels became one of the 10 backbone export products of Fuqing.
1989 was the year of the development of the Fuqing eel industry. Fuqing County has 27 eel farms, breeding 312 mu, with an output of 671 tons, which is the largest freshwater eel breeding and processing export base in China. The Provincial Grain and Oil Import and Export Company has established the country's first roasted eel production line in Honglu Foreign Trade Refrigeration Factory, with an annual output of more than 100 tons of roasted eels and an output value of nearly 10 million yuan. In 1990, Fuqing began to introduce roast eel production lines from Japan, Germany and other countries and Taiwan. In 1992, the introduction of European eel fry was successfully piloted, because the price of European eel fry was only one-tenth of the price of Japanese eel fry, and the scale of breeding expanded rapidly. In 1993, there were 800 eel farms in the province, with an area of 14,024 mu, of which Fuqing had 310 eel farms, with an area of 7,500 mu, accounting for 38.6% and 53.5% of the total number of the province, respectively, and Fuqing became the largest intensive pond eel base in the country. In 1994, a total of 10 roast eel factories were built in the city, with an annual output of 6795 tons and an output value of 1.51 billion yuan. In 1995, the eel industry in Fuqing reached its first peak, and the number of eel farms, breeding area, and eel production in the city was 15 times that of 1991. At the same time, the eel compound feed processing industry has followed suit, initially forming an industrial chain of eel breeding, processing, export and eel compound feed production. In 1996, Fuqing eel production was nearly 20,000 tons, and the eel industry became one of the pillar industries of Fuqing. At the same time, with the expansion of the Fuqing people, Fuqing's eel industry extended to surrounding counties and cities and other provinces, such as Sanming, Nanping, Longyan in the province, and Jiangxi, Guangxi, Zhejiang and other places outside the province. The eel industry of the Fuqing people has a great tendency to burn the plains.
From 1997 to 2014, the oscillating downward cycle of Fuqing eel industry experienced a period of high decline→ bottoming out→ and the decline shock → gradually picking up. The decline from 1997 to 2000 was "cliff-like". During the period, affected by multiple factors such as the high price of eel fry, the oversupply of eel market, and the decline in the exchange rate of the yen against the US dollar, the purchase price of eel fell sharply, from the highest price of 183,000 yuan per ton, year by year to 60,000-70,000 yuan per ton, and the eel farm generally lost a large number of losses, which led to a large number of creditor's rights and debt disputes, and even affected the social stability of the city. The eel changed from the "golden treasure" in the hands of the Fuqing people to the "hot potato", and the Fuqing people also felt the fierce side of the eel for the first time.
But the Fuqing people believe that this is just a washing on the way up, and the eel industry environment has warmed up slightly and began to bottom out. In 2000, Qi Xiang Food stock was listed in Hong Kong. In 2001, the city's roast eel factory developed to 13 15 production lines, with an output of 22,600 tons, an output value of 1.54 billion yuan, and an export earning of 193 million US dollars. Fuqing's roasted eel production accounts for about 45% of the country, accounting for 38% of the Japanese market share, is the country's largest roasted eel production and processing and export foreign exchange earning base. Qi Xiang Food Co., Ltd. (roasted eel) was awarded the fujian province famous brand products. In 2004, the development of Fuqing eel industry became a set of feed processing, eel breeding, grilled eel processing as one, with an annual output value of about 5 billion yuan in the industrial chain. This period of time is the most beautiful day of Fuqing's eel industry.
But trouble ensued. From 2002 to 2003, The drug residue problems of "mercury nitrate" and "enrofloxacin" occurred in European eels, and in 2005, the problems of "nitrofuran", "malachite green" and "crystal purple" occurred, and in 2005, the city's roasted eel production dropped sharply to 10,200 tons, and the output value shrank to 1.06 billion yuan. In May 2006, Japan introduced the world's most stringent food and drug residue limit system "Affirmative List System". In 2010, European eels were included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Trade Category II. Trade Management, and in 2011 the export of European eel fry was banned. From 2010 to 2013, the local eel seedlings were significantly reduced for four consecutive years, and the price of eel seedlings increased by 5-10 times compared with the normal annual price. Multiple blows have hurt Fuqing's eel industry, with more than 90% of eel industry enterprises losing money and many failing.
Fortunately, the "cold winter" has finally passed. The price of eels rose from 45,000 to 75,000 yuan per ton in 2010 to 220,000 yuan in 2013. "Earn five dollars a piece, you won't lose to mining and real estate", the naked swimmer who persisted until the end finally began to get a considerable return. In 2013, the trial culture of American eel was successful, and eel production began to pick up. In 2014, after four consecutive years of significant reductions in production, eel seedlings quickly returned to normal annual levels. Since 2014, the number of eels on the market, the processing volume of grilled eels in grilled eel enterprises, and the export volume have remained stable and increased year by year.
Forty should not be confused, Fuqing eel industry swimming for 40 years but there is a question of "still able to eat". The source and price of eel seedlings, trade barriers, exchange rate fluctuations, production costs, market environment, industrial transformation and upgrading... Wait, too many uncertain factors make the eel industry still "rely on the sky to eat".
Eel breeding enterprises are most worried about the production and price of eel fry, due to the traditional European eel, American eel, Japanese eel, the lack of seed resources or the price is too high, some farms began to try to raise two-color eel, African eel, Mozambican eel, flower eel, from the source to reduce costs. The current factory intensive breeding, the use of constant temperature equipment, the use of solar energy and other heating, instead of the traditional boiler to keep warm; through the self-purification and recyclable water supply system, instead of pumping groundwater, these production methods transformed due to environmental protection requirements, improve the threshold of aquaculture, which puts forward new requirements for the current mainstream family decentralized breeding model in Fuqing.
The price of live eels persists, the shrinking demand for the finished international market of roasted eels, and the decline in prices caused by exchange rates and other reasons have made the bosses of Fuqing roasted eel enterprises upset. At present, Japan is still the main export destination of roasted eels, but compared with the past, the consumption of roasted eels in the Japanese market has shrunk significantly, from the peak of 70,000 tons per year to a minimum of more than 10,000 tons per year, and has stabilized at 30,000 tons in recent years. The domestic market is not yet mature, the roasted eel products are uneven, and the price war is fought, which directly causes insufficient orders, overcapacity, and low operating rate. Through fine market division, grilled eel enterprises improve quality, develop saury, bluefish, shrimp rolls and other related products, optimize product structure, and strive for breakthroughs in response.
Feed companies are more moist. From 2014 to 2016, the total output of the six major eel feed enterprises in Fuqing increased by 58.6%, 41.23% and 5.9% year-on-year. Of particular note is Fujian Tianma Technology Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianma Technology"). Tianma Technology was the first in China to develop a glass eel compound feed, which not only solves the problem of water environmental pollution caused by the long-term use of red worms in China's eel industry, but also solves the problem of breeding safety and eel food safety, breaks the technology monopoly of Japan, South Korea and other countries, and effectively promotes the healthy and sustainable development of China's eel breeding industry. Its research and development of glass eel compound feed with independent intellectual property rights and other technologies to fill the domestic technology gap. Its production and sales of eel compound feed rank first in the world, and Jianma brand aquatic feed won the title of "China Famous Brand Product". Tianma Technology has also set up a science and technology committee with academician Gui Jianfang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the chairman, and undertaken the construction of academician expert workstations, postdoctoral research mobile station work bases, national aquatic animal pathogen bank graduate training bases, eel modern industrial technology engineering research center of the Ministry of Education, Fujian provincial enterprise technology center, Fujian provincial key laboratory of special aquatic feed, Fujian province special aquatic feed enterprise engineering technology research center and other technical platforms, building one of the most powerful scientific research platforms in Asia. At present, the most authoritative eel industry in China has been founded, "China Eel Net", to help farmers grasp the market trend and create the best economic benefits. In January 2017, Tianma Technology was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming the first enterprise in Fujian Province's special aquatic feed industry to be listed on the main board.
What makes people feel that the situation is compelling is the pressure of expansion and penetration of domestic competitors, especially Guangdong enterprises. In 2011, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine awarded the title of "Taishan Eel" National Geographical Indication Product. In March 2017, CCTV-2 CCTV Financial Channel's "Trading Hours", "Hourly Finance" and "First Time" columns focused on the eel industry in Shunde, the "hometown of China's eels", excavated the structure model of Shunde eels "with Shunde as the production and processing headquarters and Taishan as the breeding base", and reported the highlights of eels from seedlings, breeding to production. Although Fuqing's eel production, grilled eel exports, and feed production still occupy an important position in the country's production capacity, the status of "Big Brother" has been challenged. According to the statistics of Fuqing Inspection and Quarantine: in 2014, Fuqing exported 198 batches of roasted eels, 2416.82 tons, and the value of goods was 61.8543 million US dollars, of which 56.39% were exported to Japanese roast eels; in 2015, 341 batches, 4361.96 tons, and the value of goods was 106.1009 million US dollars, of which 72.05% were exported to Japan; 333 batches, 3636.99 tons in 2016, the value of goods was 76.6585 million US dollars, and the export of Japanese roasted eels accounted for 73.54%. In the past 5 years, China's exports of grilled eels to Japan have basically remained at about 30,000 tons, and the number of roasted eels exported to Japan in our city only accounts for about 10% of them, which is far from the peak of 38% of the Japanese market share.
Fuqing is still an important town for the domestic and foreign eel industry. In 2016, there were 550 eel farms in Fuqing (the highest in history), with an eel fry volume of 68 million and an output of 15,220 tons; 7 grilled eel enterprises, 3,636 tons of roasted eel exports, earning foreign exchange of 76.65 million US dollars; 6 eel feed enterprises, with an output of 75,540 tons and an output value of 101999 million yuan, and the annual output value of the eel industry was nearly 5 billion yuan. The eels produced by the Fuqing people in the country reached about 50,000 tons, accounting for 74.6% of the total national eel production of 67,000 tons. The fuqing eel industry set off a second wave and has a solid industrial foundation.
The eel industry's greatest hope is to expand consumption in the domestic market. In recent years, the recognition of eel products in China has become higher and higher, the growth of domestic demand has accelerated significantly, and the sales volume of grilled eels has increased by more than 20% in the past three years. The Fuqing people are engaged in the aquatic industry overseas more than 40,000 people, all kinds of supermarket outlets reached 11,000; in the domestic aquatic products industry, there are 160,000 people engaged in the aquatic products industry, distributed in 283 prefecture-level cities and more than 2,000 counties across the country, distribution outlets reached 38,000, which is a huge resource. The development of the Internet and cold chain logistics has also created new opportunities for the sale of roast eels. In 2016, fuqing eel industry association added a roasted eel marketing director unit "Jiannong Eel Industry Cooperative", through the network platform, WeChat recommendation and promotion of eel products, to open the grilled e-tail marketing e-commerce distribution model.
Industry associations play an important role. Fuqing Eel Industry Association is a Chinese social organization AAAA level community organization, with 159 group members, including 7 grilled eel enterprises, 5 eel feed enterprises, and 2 fishery medicine enterprises. The association has set up Rongcheng and Yuxi Service Center, and the center has an aquatic animal disease outpatient department, which provides free eel farms for members. The association has hired a group of senior technical talents to guide the city's eel technology innovation and sustainable development, promote the experimental breeding of new eel species, and explore new technologies for flower eel, bicolor eel and American eel culture. Strengthen mutual exchanges within the industry, provide members with eel market eel production and release, feed, eel disease and innovative technologies and other information, so that members can further understand the changes in the domestic and foreign eel market. More critically, the voice of the industry has been issued to the government departments, such as: maintaining communication with the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Office of Endangered Species Management, collecting materials to prove the legitimacy of the continued export of European eels, lifting the questions of the European Union and Japan about China's export of endangered species; reflecting the demands and difficulties of industry enterprises, such as the export quota of European eels, and solving the problem of the continuation of European eel exports; assisting relevant enterprises to apply to the Ministry of Agriculture for approval and import qualification certification of imported European eel seedlings, so as to legalize the import of European eel seedlings; The Interim Measures for the Implementation of the Traceability Management of European Eels provide suggestions and amendments, etc. In the next step, the association will also help more enterprises to improve the quality of eels from all aspects such as breeding sources, growth and dispensing, and processing links, and establish a raw material supplier evaluation system and an eel identity traceability system to form an effective production, processing and sales operation management mechanism.
The role of government is irreplaceable. As a traditional industry with Fuqing characteristics, the eel industry needs the government to strengthen the supervision of aquaculture and production behavior, formulate the technical specifications and standards of the Fuqing eel industry and strive to rise to the national industry standard, create the overall brand image of the Fuqing eel industry and promote it... "These things are difficult to do or do well by enterprises and associations alone, if the government can support more, the effect will certainly be different" The eel association and related enterprises are looking forward to it.