Trade War with China Boosts Korean Imports of Australian Seafood... Crustaceans Up 550 Times

Last Year's Import Weight 1,435t... Doubled in 3 Years
Crustaceans from 0.2t in 2018 to 111.5t Last Year
Increased Imports Boost Popularity of Crayfish and More

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] Due to the nearly two-year-long trade war between Australia and China, the inflow of Australian seafood into the domestic market has significantly increased. As export routes were blocked, the volume that was originally destined for China has largely entered the domestic market.

According to the export-import trade statistics from the Korea Customs Service on the 21st, the import volume of Australian seafood, including frozen, refrigerated, and dried fish, as well as crustaceans and live fish, was about 611 tons in 2018 but jumped to 1,435 tons last year, more than doubling in three years. In particular, crustaceans, which had almost no import volume at 0.2 tons in 2018, increased to 7 tons in 2019, 41.2 tons in 2020, and 111.5 tons last year, soaring more than 550 times. Fresh and refrigerated fish also increased nearly eightfold from 83.8 tons in 2018 to 655.3 tons last year.

The seafood industry sees the full-scale trade war between Australia and China as the background for this. As exports of seafood destined for China became difficult, South Korea was sought as an alternative market. Earlier, Australia excluded Chinese telecommunications equipment companies such as Huawei from participating in its 5th generation mobile communication (5G) network project in 2018 citing security concerns, and in 2020, it called for an international investigation into the origin of COVID-19, which led to conflicts with China. At that time, China imposed import restrictions, bans, and customs clearance refusals on Australian beef, cotton, timber, lobsters, and other products.

Due to the increase in import volume, some fish species have been released into the domestic market at relatively affordable prices. In particular, Australian ‘crayfish,’ which was once considered a premium seafood, is now gaining attention as a substitute for the recently expensive snow crab. According to the seafood industry, the current market price for live Australian crayfish is around 70,000 KRW. In comparison, Russian king crab currently exceeds 90,000 to 100,000 KRW per kilogram. Crayfish is a type of lobster mainly inhabiting the western Australian waters and is also called chicken prawn or spiny lobster. It was gradually introduced to the domestic market through the variety show ‘Law of the Jungle’ in 2013, but at that time, prices were high, ranging from 120,000 to 130,000 KRW.

An industry insider said, "Recently, as volumes that were exported to other countries have flowed into the domestic market, some species like crayfish have become much cheaper," adding, "As it has become known through online channels, more people are gradually seeking it."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.