Nuke jitters sink seafood shares
- Source: Global Times
- [08:31 March 18 2011]
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By Song Shengxia
Shares of the nation's major seafood-related companies dove lower Thursday as markets reacted to concerns over radioactive fallout potentially contaminating both Japan and northeast Asia's seafood supply.
But analysts said Thursday that the short-term negative chatter concerning the domestic seafood industry will ebb away soon and China, the world's largest producer and consumer of seafood, is likely to take up some of the slack left behind by Japan.
Investor jitters over Japan's crisis spilling over onto Chinese fisheries sent shares of major seafood producers down Thursday.
Anxiety has mounted in China over the potential harmful effects of radiation emissions from Japan, despite the government's best efforts to allay public concerns.
Cities and regions including Shanghai and Hong Kong have started checking the food imported from Japan.
Ren Yanbin, a resident of Foshan, Guangdong Province, told the Global Times Thursday that he and his family would not consume seafood, especially those imported from Japan for the coming months despite seafood being one of their favorite dishes.
Meanwhile, Japanese-style restaurants which previously boasted that their food sources were purely Japanese, have quickly shifted gears to claim that their ingredients are either purely locally-supplied or imported from Europe.
"Some seafood like salmon and tuna fish sold in our restaurant were imported from Europe as Japan does not raise these types of fish. Other materials are purchased locally to reduce costs," said a staff member at Gongqijia Japanese Restaurant in Beijing.
Since 2007, China has become the largest seafood producer, accounting for 35 percent of the marine products output worldwide. It is also the largest exporter of marine products, with half of its marine products exported to Japan.
Last year, China export of aquatic products reached 3.3 million tons, up 12.6 percent, hitting the historical high, data from China's General Administration of Customs showed. China's aquatic products has exported to 170 countries last year, with Japan, US and Europe being its major markets.
Zhou Siran, a senior analyst with CIC Industry Research Center, told the Global Times that prices of seafood especially seaweed and jellyfish, which are believed to contain iodine to fend off radiation, are expected to rise in the short term and bigger Chinese seafood suppliers are likely to benefit from the spike in demand for seafood from other countries.
"The massive earthquake will affect the growth of its marine products and cause a dramatic fall in supply. But it will open opportunities for bigger marine companies, which supply similar products, especially shrimp and scallops," said researcher Zhou Jigeng with Guolian Securities Research and Development Center.
