Since August 24, when China suspended imports of Japanese aquatic products, the scallop market has seen a demand gap of 100,000 tons, attracting the attention of a group of US and Canadian exporters.

At this year's Qingdao Fishing Fair, Chinese importers have shown a strong interest in North American scallops, and scallops seem to have become a seller's market.

A source told UCN: "In the past, Chinese buyers usually sourced shrimp scallops from Hokkaido, Japan, to supplement domestic production. Since the Japanese seafood ban came into effect, a huge gap has been left in the market. There is no doubt that this is a seller's market, and Canadian and American scallop suppliers were the big winners at the show."

"There was a lot of interest in our scallops from Chinese buyers at the show," said Shawn Harding, director of international operations for Eastern Fisheries, a Massachusett-based company. "China hasn't traditionally been our primary market."

Harding pointed out that after Japanese scallops exit the Chinese market, they will gradually be sold to Europe and the United States. In the United States, Eastern Fisheries is one of the major importers of Japanese scallops, and the supply of Japanese scallops will also increase significantly in the coming years.

Royce Ruan, associate director of marketing at the Shanghai office of Canadian firm Clearwater Seafoods, told UCN: "China used to be Japan's largest export market for scallops, and now many buyers are looking for alternatives to Japanese scallops at the Qingdao show."

"Clearwater currently only sells dried scallop posts, so we can only meet a portion of the high-end demand. The ban came into effect in August, and there was some confusion in the market. But buyers are really interested in our products." "Ruan said.