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New coronavirus outbreak at Beijing food market fuels fears of second wave of cases in China
Source:
https://scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3092790/coronavirus-food-scare-puts-china-chilean-salmon People & Culture
Coronavirus food scare puts China off Chilean salmon
- Demand for the product ‘practically zero’ after Beijing outbreak linked to chopping board used by seller of imported seafood, industry group says
- Russian and Brazilian appetite also lower but American market ‘the one saving grace’
Chinese consumers remain wary of Chilean salmon. Photo: Bloomberg
Chinese demand for Chilean salmon is “practically zero” after Beijing raised concerns about Covid-19 risks in imported seafood, according to industry group Salmon Chile.
Even though Chinese officials indicated there were no official restrictions on Chilean salmon, consumers in China remain wary after authorities initially traced an outbreak of the virus to a chopping board used by a seller of imported fish.
Those fears were set to grow after the detection this week of Covid-19 in Ecuadorean shrimp, Salmon Chile president Arturo Clement said. Most authorities and health experts say there s no evidence that food can transmit the virus.
“There has been a psychosis with the issue, therefore Chinese demand went to zero and hasn’t recovered,” Clement said on Friday. “There’s confusion in the market, which causes people to stop consuming seafood.”
Some shipments that Chilean producers had already sent to China are stuck there, while others were redirected to other markets. China typically buys about 36,300 tonnes (40,000 tons) of Chilean salmon a year, making it the South American country’s fifth-biggest customer, trailing the United States, Japan, Brazil and Russia.
Clement said Brazilian and Russian demand for Chilean salmon had also dropped in the pandemic, with prices sinking and producers facing losses. US demand was the one saving grace.
“In the end, the only open market we have is the US, which is far bigger, but that has put enormous pressure [on prices],” he said.
Today, Chilean salmon farms are operating at 90 per cent capacity after implementing a series of Covid-19 protocols. Still, volume in the first half of the year was 4 per cent higher than the same period last year, Clement said.
For producers, the second quarter was grim, with a 40 per cent drop in prices signalling losses for all operators, he said. Fortunately, the industry was coming out of three or four good years, meaning farms were well positioned to absorb the blow, with a recent uptick in prices helping, Clement said.