Seafood Is in Plentiful Supply At Spring Festival

At present, aquaculture ponds are larger, seafood market supply sufficient. In 2022, due to high breeding costs, low market demand and other reasons, the aquaculture industry as a whole will be depressed. However, with the coming of the Spring Festival, the consumption of family dinner, holiday travel and dining out will increase significantly, which is expected to drive the further growth of the demand for seafood products. It is expected that the demand and supply of seafood products will be booming during the Spring Festival, and the price will increase steadily.

Fish and other aquatic products are essential for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. The Spring Festival is approaching. How about seafood supply? Zhang Jingyi, associate researcher of the Industrial economy Research Office of the Rural Economic Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that at present, China's aquaculture ponds are large and the seafood market is in sufficient supply.

Aquaculture is the main force driving the growth of domestic aquatic product output. In the first three quarters of 2022, the output of mariculture was 16.314,600 tons, up 5.25% year on year. The output of freshwater aquaculture was 22.144 million tons, up 4.73 percent year on year. Last year, the overall situation of farmers is low profit, but there are also many farmers in the red.

According to the China Agricultural Information Network, the weighted average price of domestic aquatic products from January to December 2022 was 26.27 yuan per kilogram, down 9.3 percent year on year. Volume was 1.651,400 tons, down 15.2 percent year-on-year. The weighted average wholesale price of freshwater fish was 18.57 yuan per kilogram, down 2.5% year on year; The volume of transactions was 1.499,300 million tons, down 13.8 percent year-on-year. Among them, the weighted average wholesale price of bulk freshwater fish was 16.65 yuan per kg, down 6.8% year on year; Transaction volume was 1.364,900 million tons, down 15.7 percent year-on-year. The weighted average wholesale price of Marine fish was 47.23 yuan per kg, up 9.4% year on year; Trading volume was 185,900 tons, 28.5% lower than last year. The weighted average wholesale price of shrimp and crab was 79.87 yuan per kilogram, down 46.3% year on year; The volume of transactions was 22,300 tons, up 3.1 percent year on year. The weighted average wholesale price of shellfish was RMB21.83 per kg, down 12.4% year on year; Transaction volume was 64,000 tons, down 18.6 percent year-on-year. In December 2022, the weighted average wholesale price of aquatic products was 22.38 yuan per kilogram, down 3.5% month on month and 12.2% year on year. The average daily trading volume of aquatic products in 68 monitored wholesale markets was 5,153.54 tons, down 25.1% year on year.

Aquaculture profits fluctuated in 2022, partly because of high operating costs. According to the monitoring data of the Industrial Economics Research Office of the technical system of bulk freshwater fish industry, in December 2022, the price of bulk freshwater fish seedlings increased by 11.7% from the beginning of the year. Feed, energy, fishing medicine and labor are also rising, and the rising production cost has squeezed the profit margin of aquaculture.

On the other hand, the consumption is relatively low in 2022, resulting in the annual trading volume of seafood and aquatic products shrinking and the market price falling. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the country's catering revenue fell 5.4 percent from January to November 2022. In addition, coupled with the impact of high temperature and dry weather in the southern summer, the quality of freshwater fish, crayfish, hairy crabs and other specifications have declined, driving down the price.

However, with the Spring Festival approaching, aquatic products market will reverse the depressed situation before the year, ushering in the hot market of supply and demand.

"Generally every year from November to the Spring Festival is the freshwater fish out of the pond concentrated period, the market supply is more adequate. Although affected by the epidemic in the early period, the market circulation consumption is limited, the market is depressed, farmers are not active in selling fish, some farmers are reluctant to sell, but until the Spring Festival and after the holiday will be concentrated on the market." "Ms. Zhang said.

Reporters recently visited a number of businesses to learn that this year's seafood bookings larger. A market leader said, this year seafood wholesale market supply is sufficient, order quantity increases a lot.

According to the monitoring by the Industrial Economy Research Office of the technical system of bulk freshwater fish industry, by the end of 2022, the comprehensive storage ratio of bulk freshwater fish was 54%, 3 percentage points higher than the level in the same period of last year. Grass carp, carp, crucian and other bulk freshwater fish had large storage ponds, and some areas even had pond pressure. Therefore, the supply was relatively sufficient during the Spring Festival. During the festival, the consumption of family dinner, holiday travel and dining out will increase significantly, which is expected to drive the further growth of the demand for seafood products. It is expected that during the Spring Festival, the seafood market will show a dynamic situation of supply and demand, and the price will increase steadily.