China wants more oysters
Cortes Currents
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Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - China wants more oysters than are grown in BC.
“No discussion about seafood markets can go anywhere without talking about China. It is just the number one driver of seafood consumption. It is their market,” said Erik Lyon, owner operator of Rising Tide Shellfish on Cortes Island.
He added, “I haven’t been there, but from what I hear China has a rising middle class with disposable income and culturally they really value seafood, especially shellfish. Fresh and live are probably the most important things to them, as far as food goes.”
According to the Chinese market research agency, Dauxe Consulting, “With polluted and overfished waters at home, China is importing a lot of premium seafood. Wealthier Chinese consumers who can afford to avoid scandal-plagued chicken and pork have in some cases switched to seafood.”
Many Shanghai and Beijing restaurants “sell imported oysters, and most often as a side dish. Only some places exclusively sell oysters as a key element of the restaurant. The price varies from 30 to 150 yuan per dish. The key feature of the restaurants selling oysters is that most of them are western-oriented.”
Dauxe added, “Chinese consumers are more and more demanding about the quality of oysters they buy. Therefore, they are willing to pay a high price for high-quality oysters.”
China wants more oysters than BC can produce
“There were Chinese brokers who came here and they wanted more oysters than are grown in BC, never mind Cortes Island. We simply do not have that volume. We are talking thousands of dozens and for us three hundred dozen is a large order. We don’t even count. We did try,” said Kristen Schofield-Sweet.
Photo credit: Pearl Of Asia Fried Oysters by snowpea&bokchoi via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)