According to news from SeafoodSource on February 2, after China abandoned the dynamic zero-out policy of the new crown epidemic at the end of 2022 and canceled the inspection and disinfection procedures for imported seafood at ports, the demand for seafood in the Chinese market is picking up, but it is also accompanied by some uncertainties.

Pablo Resnik, head of business development at Spanish shrimp exporter Roda International, which has offices in China, said there had been a rebound in container orders this month, but the recovery was likely to be mild and short-lived given the impact of the coronavirus on domestic consumers. Many Chinese buyers have stocks, and now they are starting to slow down their imports.

Oliver Nikolovski, general manager of Ocean Treasure, a Shanghai-based sourcing and trading company, said that as the stringent measures related to the new crown epidemic are gradually relaxed, the demand for processing capacity in China will increase significantly, especially because of the lower energy costs in the European Union. High, the customer requested to transfer the processing business to China.

Oliver Nikolovski is worried that a large number of Chinese processing plants have been closed due to the epidemic, and it will take several months for some processing plants to return to pre-epidemic levels, or even a year to fully recover.

Others are hopeful of a quicker recovery. Landy Chow, head of Siam Canadian's  office in Guangzhou, said he expected demand from the restaurant industry to return to normal by March 2023, when Chinese importers will begin to shift in earnest. Multiple orders.

Gary Wilcox, chief executive of JAG UFS Group, a freight forwarder with offices in China, said lower freight rates could spur demand from Chinese overseas customers. China's exports have been weak due to inflation in the EU and the US, falling 8.7% and 9.9% year-on-year in November and December, respectively.

Nick Ovchinnikov, chief executive of Lotus seafood, an Oceanside, California-based seafood trader, said demand in seafood export markets appeared set to remain weak.

Nick Ovchinnikov said demand could recover in the third quarter of 2023, a view echoed by executives at Mazzetta Co. and other U.S. companies who attended a global seafood market conference in California in mid-January amid high inflation and possible In the recession, consumers tend to switch from more expensive seafood to cheaper products.

Nick Ovchinnikov believed that this would help the development of China's seafood industry and accelerate China's recovery, which in turn would help balance global prices. Freight rates have fallen below pre-pandemic levels, which could further boost trade.

While Western consumers are scaling back their seafood consumption, Iceland seafood sales director Bjorn Marius Jonasson is skeptical that Chinese processing plants will benefit from short-term global economic conditions, noting that energy costs in China are also rising.

Geoff Irvine, head of the Lobster Council of Canada, a trade group, said that despite some restaurant closures due to the outbreak, Chinese consumer demand for quality products appears to be holding up, suggesting a strong recovery could be on the horizon. The demand is "better than expected".

New Zealand sea cucumber exporter Wild Catch chief executive James Parfitt is optimistic about the company's sales in China this year. In the long run, China's tightened seafood import regulatory regime will reduce the number of unregulated species entering the market, increasing market demand for legal operators like him, he said.