China’s ban on Australian lobsters has Asean members clawing way into market
- New Zealand and North America now account for more than three-quarters of all lobsters imported by China, but Indonesia and Thailand are making gains
- And analysts say the longer Beijing blocks Australian lobsters, the more opportunities arise for Southeast Asian nations
Southeast Asian countries are fishing for more opportunities to get their lobsters onto Chinese plates, and analysts expect that the trend will not only intensify, it will become increasingly difficult to reverse the longer that Beijing’s protracted ban on Australian rock lobsters remains in effect.
Meanwhile, three Asean members – Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam – have strived to grab a greater market share by seizing on China’s crustacean demand that swelled during the 2010s as its middle class expanded.
The door for their lobsters to enter China has opened wider in the nearly three-and-a-half years since Beijing banned lobster imports from Australia in response to calls from Canberra for an inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus. And despite bilateral ties improving since last year, the ban has remained in effect.
The three members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) accounted for 6.8 per cent of China’s total import share last year – doubling the rate from 2019.
The increase also came as Beijing has been moving closer to its Southeast Asian neighbours to buffer growing geopolitical complications with the US-led West, while the vast market potential of the world’s second-largest economy has continued to attract Southeast Asian exporters to expand their presence.