Dalian Hengjia Food Company riding wave of China's ready-to-eat seafood meal craze

In 2019, before the Covid pandemic hit, Zhuanghe, China-based Dalian Hengjia Food Co. released its new ready-to-eat seafood product line. 

The subsidiary of Beijing-based Billion Fish Group was finally able displayed the product line outside of China at the 2023 Seafood Expo Global, which ran from 25 to 27 April, in Barcelona, Spain. The line consists of pre-packaged cooked shrimp, seaweed, scallops, and squid tentacles, with sauce included, Dalian Hengjia Sales Manager Cactus Yuan told SeafoodSource.

“We did a lot of experiments before it went to the store, and now it’s all ready and been to the supermarkets,” Yuan said.

Despite the toll the pandemic took on China’s seafood industry, the line took off, according to Yuan, as China’s demand for prepackaged seafood increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic, providing consumers the opportunity to eat restaurant-quality seafood from home.  

“Normally in China, people take it out for picnics, especially during the virus,” Yuan said. “People don’t have much time to cook, which is how it got so popular.” 

The line's two most-popular products are the shrimp and squid tentacles coated in sauce. Dalian Hengjia is using those two products as leaders in an effort to push sales of the line abroad, according to Yuan. 

 Photo by Bhavana Scalia-Bruce/SeafoodSource