Lower consumer confidence leads to seafood price-cutting in Chinese restaurants

Seafood purchases in China’s restaurant market are drying up as consumer demand dwindles.

Prices for staple mass market species including pangasius and snakehead are down an average of 20 percent year over year, as suppliers push to revive both consumer and restaurant demand. 

China’s restaurant scene has seen an influx of new players in recent years, and heavier competition is also resulting in lower prices, according to Shanghai-based agrifood research agency Sitonia Consulting. This crowded market has led to price wars, and consumption data is showing the discounts have been successful in drawing in more customers. China’s restaurant spending has been one of a few high points in its Q4 economic data, with spending on catering rising 13.8 percent in October. However, the figures have shown Chinese consumers remain tightfisted when they do go out to eat.

Weaker consumer spending overall is heavily affecting suppliers of lower-value fish like pangasius, which has become a key, but increasingly lower-priced, ingredient for hotpot chains and convenience food stores. Lower-value species also face competition from slightly higher-priced species like snakehead, which have also fallen in price.

A surge in snakehead production and subsequent supply glut appears to have led to mass discounts on the fish earlier this year, according to the Guangdong-focused Hai Chan Zi Xun WeChat group. Major producers of snakehead in China include Guangdong Evergreen, which in 2021 announced a joint venture with the Nansha Modern Agriculture Industry Group to farm sea bass, snakehead, and catfish.

The Hai Chan Zi Xun article also highlighted the relatively poor performance of pangasius – a largely commodified product shipped in filets – on China’s online platforms. In the first eight months of 2023, China and Hong Kong imported USD 378 million (EUR 355.32 million) worth of Vietnamese pangasius, down 30 percent compared to the same period last year.

“Pangasius is already an old product … Chinese online platforms seek new products to drive sales,” it said.

Across China, pangasius remains far more competitive pricewise compared to snakehead. Snakehead prices in mid-November 2023 averaged …

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