Chinese merchants who sell illicit catches of North Korean caught seafood are reporting sharply higher prices as new sanctions take hold and tighten supplies, Daily North Korea reported.
At a market in China’s Yanji City, North Korean seafood sales are slumping, a source told the publication.
At the beginning of this year, pollock was selling for about 8 yuan apiece, but the price has nearly doubled to about 15 yuan since the sanctions, the source said. It’s risen to practically the cost of gold, so most people won’t consider buying it.
The seafood market in Yanji is often frequented by South Korean tourists, and North Korean pollock was previously lucrative for suppliers and vendors.
Before the implementation of the sanctions, North Korean pollock was relatively cheap. Some Chinese merchants expanded their procurement at that point. They waited for the sanctions to go into effect so they could take advantage of the scarcity by selling at a higher price and increasing their profit margins, the source said.
2017 Undercurrent News