Search Results for: China, lobster
U.S.-China trade war is a boon for Atlantic Canada’s lobster harvesters. But what’s the catch?
Exports of Canadian lobster rose to a record $266-million from $112-million in the 18 months between January, 2018, and June, 2019. Meanwhile, U.S. exports have plummeted, especially in Maine, where live lobster exports to China collapsed by 81 per cent between June, 2018, and the same month this year. It’s all pumping millions of dollars into Atlantic Canada, fuelling a boat-building boom, sending pickup-truck sales soaring and giving lobster crews six-figure salaries, a significant raise from the recent past. >click to read< 10:17
China tariffs sinking overseas sales, Provincetown lobstermen not feeling the pinch
“It’s killed our price. It’s killed our markets,” said state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante of Gloucester.,,, Multiple Massachusetts businesses, especially those in Gloucester, have been adversely affected as they cannot compete with Canadian wholesale prices. But the lobstermen themselves are not feeling the pinch, and if anything are seeing their prices rise, Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association Executive Director Beth Casoni said. “The fishermen are happy,” Casoni said. “They’re making money.” >click to read< 09:29
Maine turns to Canada after losing China lobster market
The Maine lobster industry is switching to other markets – as far away as Thailand and Vietnam and as close as Canada. Maine-based lobster companies are opening operations in Canada and shipping lobsters from Nova Scotia because Canada isn’t affected by the US-China trade dispute. That reflects what Bill Bruns, operations manager of The Lobster Co in Arundel, has seen in his own export business. As a result, trade in lobsters from Canada is booming.,,, Ready Seafood of Portland, Maine, last fall acquired L. Walker Seafoods, >click to read<13:24
China bought lots of Florida lobster despite tariffs. Keys fishermen paid the price
Chinese importers bought Florida spiny lobsters in what could be near-record numbers this season, despite a 25 percent tariff their government placed on U.S. seafood last July, according to the leading Florida Keys commercial fishermen’s trade group. That’s great news considering the fear commercial anglers had about the potential impact of growing U.S.-China trade hostilities on one of South Florida’s largest industries. “Going into the season, the big questions were: Will the Chinese buy? How much and at what price,” >click to read<20:25
Once stymied by China tariff, lobster dealer finds a workaround
Tom Adams, CEO of Maine Coast lobster wholesale company in York, said he’s found ways to make up revenue that was lost when a 25% tariff was implemented last July on imports of lobster to China. The tariff has taken a bite out of his company’s sales, Adams said. Previously, China had been Maine Coast’s fastest growing market, but the tariff eliminated 80% of Maine Coast’s sales to mainland China. Overall, the value of live Maine lobsters exported to China dropped 64% in July 2018, compared with July 2017, industry experts said last year. China now gets most of its lobster from Canada. Adams told Mainebiz an aggressive marketing campaign has resulted in significant sales increases in other parts of Asia and in the U.S., and in retention of European sales even though that market was also disadvantaged by an 8% tariff over Canadian competitors. >click to read<21:29
Canadian lobster exporters feel ripple effect of U.S.-China trade war
The United States-China trade war is creating choppy seas for Canada’s lobster exporters. It has led to the dumping of Maine lobster — now priced out of China — in other Asian markets and Europe, said Jack Liu, president of North American operations for Zoneco, a large Chinese seafood company with a Nova Scotia operation. Dumping is when a country or company exports a product in a foreign market at a price that is lower than the price in the exporter’s domestic market. “All of a sudden they lost the Chinese market due to the 25 per cent tariff and what are they going to do? They are going to dump those amount of lobster into other parts of the world market. We have seen that,” said Liu. >click to read<19:08
140,000 live Canadian lobster sold to China in 24 hours
Chinese buyers snapped up more than 140,000 live Canadian lobsters within 24 hours last week through a Beijing-based online retailer, and the demand can only grow, says a New Brunswick supplier. The live lobsters came from a variety of sources for the sale July 14 on jd.com, one of the largest e-commerce websites in the world. According to a news release from the company, the surge in lobster purchases was part of a sale promoting fresh food from Canada, which also included cherries and blueberries among the offerings. click here to read the story 10:30
Shadow markets mask the size of China’s demand for lobster
The Chinese appetite for North American lobster is well known and getting bigger every year, but it may be twice as big as previously believed. That’s because there is a lot more lobster ending up on Chinese dinner plates than what Canada and the U.S. send over. Researchers think there is even more North American lobster being traded along indirect and sometimes shadowy routes through other places in Asia, like Hong Kong and Vietnam, that eventually ends up as luxury eats for China’s growing middle class. click here to read the story 09:54
Lobsters at core of a tasty China-US story
Lobsters caught by fishermen on Little Cranberry Island in Maine in the United States in the morning can be had for dinner by Chinese families the next evening. The lobster and shrimp farming industry in Maine, which despite its history of more 150 years faced an uncertain future because of overcapacity, has been revitalized by Chinese consumers’ strong demand. That China-US interdependence in trade is based on win-win cooperation and mutual benefit is evident in the “lobster story”. The volume of China-US trade was less than $13 million in 1972, the year when bilateral ties started thawing thanks to then US president Richard Nixon’s visit to China. Last year, the bilateral trade volume reached nearly $520 billion. In 1979, when the two countries officially established diplomatic relations, Chinese people’s impression of US products was largely limited to a “foamy drink called Coca-Cola”. Click here to read the article 18:20
Western rock lobster price falls due to a drop in China demand, cheaper American exports
The value of premium species of lobster sourced from Western Australia has plummeted, causing the lucrative industry to grind to a near halt. The western rock lobster ‘beach price’, which is the price professional fishers receive direct from processors, has slumped to about $50 a kilogram. Compared to six months ago, the price has shed about 30 per cent of its value. Mark Rutter is the general manager of marketing and business development at the Geraldton Fishermen’s Co-operative, which is the largest processor and exporter of rock lobsters in Australia. “It’s very hard to pinpoint exactly what’s driving the prices but certainly we are experiencing very low prices … in a recent historical sense,” he said. continue reading the story here 11:36
China has finally developed a taste for lobster—and it’s keeping Maine fishermen flush with cash
Seafood is a classic luxury item in China. But until recently, people there weren’t big on lobster. The iconic, bright-red crustaceans were known as the “Boston lobster,” and were a rarity compared to other fancy oceanic eats like sea cucumbers or geoduck clams. But the economic boom in China has given the country’s swelling ranks of rich people a chance to expand their culinary horizons. For Maine’s lobster industry, the crustacean craze couldn’t have come at a better time. In 2016, Maine’s lobstermen landed more lobsters than ever in recorded history: 130 million pounds (59,000 tonnes), a haul that weighs as much as three Statues of Liberty. continue reading the article here 19:40
The online market in China is huge! The Province wants Nova Scotia’s lobster industry to get its share
Lobsters from Nova Scotia are already selling on China’s Alibaba massive e-commerce website but now the province is stepping in with a pilot project to ensure only the best of the best are sold on Alibaba’s retail sister site Tmall. It’s all part of plan to boost Nova Scotia’s lobster exports to China , valued at $113 million in 2015. Tmall.com says it is the biggest business-to-consumer retail platform in Asia. It already sells Cuban lobsters and parent Alibaba.com has more than 2,000 listings for lobster, including 76 offers to sell live Nova Scotia lobsters. Peng Song’s Hiyou Trading Company lists lobster for US$6 to US$10 — with a minimum order on Alibaba. And Charlie Jin’s World Link Food Distributors is asking between US$6 and US$16 with a minimum order of 20 cases. The province wants Nova Scotia’s lobster industry to get its share of what’s becoming a massive, online live lobster market. Continue reading the article here 09:24
Value of Maine lobster exports to China on pace to triple for 2016
Live lobster exports to China are on pace to triple in value in 2016, despite the incursion of some new lobster suppliers to the growing Asian market. Final figures for 2016 won’t be known until February, but through November, the value of live lobster shipments from Maine to China climbed to $27.5 million, nearly tripling from the $10.2 million reported in November 2015. That’s roughly half the total export of live lobsters from Maine to date, excluding Canada, where many Maine lobsters are processed and then imported back into Maine for distribution. And those figures don’t include the traditional year-end surge leading up the Chinese New Year on Jan. 28, when Chinese celebrants have been serving up lobster from Maine, Massachusetts and Canada in ever-increasing numbers. Read the story here 08:17
Lobster prices high as catch drops and China imports climb
Lobster lovers are used to adjusting to high prices, but this winter, they’re shelling out even more for the cherished crustaceans because of a lack of catch off of New England and Canada and heavy exports to China. Winter is typically a slow season for U.S. lobster fishermen and an active one off Atlantic Canada. But catch is slow in both countries this year, in part because of bad weather, industry sources said. And the winter months are also an important time for exports to lobster-crazy China, which celebrates its New Year holiday Jan. 28. It’s increasingly popular to celebrate the Chinese New Year with American lobster. That’s causing demand at a time when supply is low. Read the story here 17:54
Air Freight plan would see lobsters expressed to China
Shelburne-based First Catch Fisheries’ parent company is chartering a cargo plane to fly lobsters directly to China from Halifax to break through a logistical bottleneck. Fishing Forever, the China-based parent of the Nova Scotia lobster company, is slated to load up a Boeing 747 with the crusty crustaceans on Jan. 7 to get them to that Asian market faster, Tony Shi, the company’s vice-president, said in an interview. “It will take off from Halifax, stop in Anchorage, Alaska for fuel . . . (and land in) Zhengzhou in central China,” Shi said in an interview. There are then to be two more flights, on Jan. 14 and Jan. 21, ahead of the Chinese New Year during which the Chinese typically celebrate with elaborate feasts, and then three other flights in the month to follow. Read the story here 11:11
A fisherman from east China’s Zhejiang Province catches colorful giant lobster worth over $88,000
A fisherman from east China’s Zhejiang Province caught a rare colorful lobster weighing more than 1.5 kilograms earlier this week. The 1-meter-long lobster is largely green, with purple stripes and yellow dots on its back. Its legs are black and white and tail red. Zhou said he had never seen such a lobster in his 40 years of fishing. Some of his friends and neighbors believe it belongs to a rare kind named Panulirus ornatus after comparing it with online images. Panulirus ornatus has the largest size among all lobsters. It likes to live in sandy mud near coral reefs deep under the sea. Japan, the Indian Ocean and south of the Pacific is their main habitats, while they seldom appear in Zhejiang-Fujian waters. In 2010, though, another fisherman from Songmen Township in Zhejiang Province caught a similar lobster in East China Sea and sold it for 600,000 yuan ($88,000). Link 10:52
China rock lobster deal under fire – gives a foreign entity control of a highly valuable WA commodity
A veteran of WA’s rock lobster industry has hit out at a deal that allowed a Chinese conglomerate to buy local fishing rights. Peter Prideaux said the deal between Kailis Bros and Legend Holdings to create KB Foods set an alarming precedent for foreign ownership in the fishery. “The Western Rock Lobster Fishery is one of the most valuable fisheries in the world,” he said. “Competition for control, primarily by processors, and an ever smaller band of surviving fishers has driven access costs through the roof. “Pot prices and leasing costs have increased six-fold in about five years. This is not an industry suffering from lack of investment capital, in fact, quite to the contrary.” Mr Prideaux said the Legend deal effectively gave a foreign entity control of a highly valuable WA commodity. Read the rest here 11:26
U.S. lobster exports to Europe are down for Christmas season, but, they are up in China!
There will be fewer claws for Christmas in Europe this year. Less of the record lobster catches that have been a boon for the American fishing industry are making it onto European tables, where they have long been a holiday tradition, from lobster Thermidor in France to Italy’s La Vigilia, known in America as the Feast of the Seven Fishes. But a strong U.S. dollar and a less-than-festive economy overseas mean a weak year for American shippers like Mike Tourkistas. Read the article here 10:33
American lobster in high demand in China
EXPORTS of US lobster to China have rocketed in the past few years, largely to satisfy the appetites of the communist country’s growing middle class, to whom a steamed, whole crustacean – flown in live from the United States – is not just a festive delicacy and a good-luck symbol but also a mark of prosperity. And that’s good news for Maine, far and away the US’ No 1 lobster state, where the boom has put more money in the pockets of lobstermen and kept shippers and processors busy, especially during the usually slack northern midwinter months. Read the rest here 11:52
Lobster prices hold steady as demand wavers in US, rises in China
Despite the annual post-Labor Day slowdown in US demand for lobster, high prices, initially caused by a shortage of product after a harsh winter, are unlikely to start dropping anytime soon, bolstered by the growing Chinese demand. According to Peter McAleney of New Meadows Lobster in Portland, Maine, lobster prices are about 50 cents higher than they were this time last year. Neil Zarella of the Boston Lobster Company said that soft-shell lobsters are selling from $4.75 to $5.75 per pound. Read the rest here 12:52
Nova Scotia lobster, or ‘Boston Lobster’ in China, could be rebranded
With Canadian lobster sales in China at record levels, a major Nova Scotia exporter is trying rebrand the tasty crustacean to overcome its generic name in China: “Boston lobster.” “We all know Canadian lobster is better quality than lobster from the U.S. side,” says Jack Liu, of Zoneco, a large Chinese seafood company that has bought into the Nova Scotia lobster industry. “It’s stronger, the meat is fuller. The yield is high, there is more meat inside. “The first company in the Chinese market was American. “Boston lobster” has, as a result,,, Read the rest here 12:51
China’s appetite for N.E. lobster boosts industry
Somewhere in Shanghai, a Chinese family is delving into a Boston lobster — and paying as much as $100 for the sumptuous meal. With a booming economy, the burgeoning middle class in China has developed a taste for the rich meat of the North Atlantic crustacean, known in the Far East as Boston lobster, even though many of them are pulled from the cold waters off of Maine and shipped overseas from Tom Adams’s loading dock in York. Read the rest here 17:44
Lobster plant running full throttle to feed demand from China
An Eastern Passage lobster processing plant has been operating full tilt since an October change in ownership. The new Chinese owner is now proceeding with plans to expand and add capacity. ZF Max International is the susbsidiary of Zoneco Group Corp. Ltd. of Dailian, China, which acquired the former H&H Fisheries Ltd. processing facility in October and rebranded it as Capital Seafood International Inc. Read the rest here 11:58
Florida lobsters find a market in China
The US lobster trade with China is growing rapidly, especially for a species called the spiny lobster that is harvested in the Florida Keys. “The Chinese prefer the spiny lobster over its better known brethren the North American or Maine lobster. Part of the reason is cultural – the Chinese think of a spiny lobster as similar to a dragon prawn and the dragon is a very powerful symbol in China.” Read the rest here 21:56
Canadian crustaceans satisfying China’s demand for Atlantic lobster
The Chinese wholesaler wanted 1,000 kilograms of live lobster from Nova Scotia – the bigger the better – and he wanted it in Beijing in less than a week. That was a Friday morning. By the next Thursday, 76 cases of live lobster, worth nearly $25,000, arrived from Tangier Lobster company via refrigerated truck and an Air Canada flight, and 1,200 lobsters were crawling over one another in huge tanks at Jingshen Seafood Market, China’s largest. Read the rest here 12:18
HANGZHOU, China – A Chinese bonanza for Canadian lobster producers?
Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba hopes to sell 200,000 Canadian lobsters next week, its founder declared Friday — one dividend of Stephen Harper’s ongoing effort to cultivate “pretty important” economic ties between the two countries. “We want to help the small guys sell to China because the big guys, they don’t need us,” said Ma, a Hangzhou native who started up the company from his apartment 15 years ago. Read the rest here 12:05
P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association has signed a $17-million, three-year deal to sell lobster in China.
Acting association president Craig Avery said 2.5 million pounds (1.1 million kg) of raw, blanched lobster will be exported to Lanesync Supply Chain over three years. Lanesync is just getting into the lobster business, said Avery,, Read the rest here 16:30
Digby Neck company continues to develop Far East markets for its live lobster at China’s fisheries expo
president Robert MacDonald, whose company sells about a half-million pounds of live lobster annually in China, is at the expo as part of his two-week tour of Far East markets. Company official Mark Croft said the Digby Neck firm has found China, Hong Kong and South Korea to be one of the better sale areas. Read the rest here 19:42
Pompano Beach seafood purveyor conspired to sell live spiny lobster caught in the Florida Keys to China
The government alleges in the 6-page document that Eric Berman conspired with at least one other person “known to the U.S. Attorney’s Office” to package and ship live lobster harvested in Monroe County to Hong Kong, China, via Miami International Airport. Read more here 16:39
Fisheries minister criticized over low lobster prices – Conservatives say $50K wasted promoting sales in China, Japan, Alberta
The Progressive Conservatives accused P.E.I.’s fisheries minister of wasting taxpayer money and failing to improve lobster prices during an intense session of the legislature Tuesday. “Why have you failed to improve lobster prices in P.E.I.?” asked Colin LaVie. continued
