Seafood traders in China are bracing for a psychological blow to consumption and the possibility of wider disruption to imported proteins after Beijing halted shipments of European salmon amid fears it may be the source of a new coronavirus outbreak.
Shipments were frozen after the virus was discovered on chopping boards used for imported salmon at Beijing’s Xinfadi market, which has been linked to a new cluster of infections in the capital. Experts, however, have said salmon was unlikely to carry the disease.
While a European Commission spokesman said there is no formal ban or import restriction in place, traders have confirmed Beijing has stopped imports of all fresh products. European exporters are now anxiously waiting for clarification.
We have not had contact with local authorities. Our understanding is that the current situation is causing some logistical implications for fresh salmon to the market, said Victoria Braathen, China director at the Norwegian Seafood Council.
We are monitoring the development in the market closely. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority is clear that the coronavirus does not affect seafood safety as there are no known cases of infection via contaminated food, imported food or water.
Nonetheless, salmon, along with other imported meat and seafood products, has been removed from the shelves of major supermarkets across China while authorities test meat and seafood imports for traces of the virus.
Provincial governments including those in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangdong, Henan and Gansu, have stepped up inspections, with authorities in the capital saying they had tested more than 2,000 food samples since the weekend outbreak.
A European diplomatic source said countries that do not produce salmon shouldn’t be too worried.
But if it turns into a government-fuelled hysteria that Europe is the source of the virus, and that European Union products may be tainted with Covid-19, I will be very concerned about the effects on imports, said the official, who did not want to be named.
Live oysters are air freighted from their home markets, meaning orders can be placed or cancelled with a very short lead time. Frozen products, on the other hand, can be on the sea for six weeks, so the effect on purchases will not be immediately clear.
European air freight carrier Cargolux said in an internal memo seen by the South China Morning Post on Monday that a temporary ban has been put on all perishable shipments (e.g. fresh meat, fresh fish, vegetables, seafood and fruits) to various airports in China.
Another European import promotion official in China, who did not want to be identified, said: Like any health scare of this type in China, it can have some, generally short term, impact for some products.
If the concern moved to other imported proteins it could have an impact on meat imports but I don’t expect that to happen for now.
China’s purchases of frozen seafood from overseas have soared in recent years. It imported US$461 million of frozen fish in April, customs data showed, but there was no official breakdown for salmon.
Norway is the world’s biggest salmon exporter, followed by Chile. While its primary exports are giant volumes of crude oil and petroleum products from their North Sea fields, fresh and frozen fish products come next. In the first five months of the year, it shipped 9,600 tonnes of salmon to China, a 5 per cent decrease on the previous year due to the coronavirus, according to the Norwegian Salmon Council.
China was the largest growth market for Norwegian salmon in 2019, and when circumstances are back to normal, we look forward to further developing the China market for Norwegian salmon, said Braathen at the Norwegian Seafood Council.
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