Indian seafood exporters distressed over tightening Chinese market

Seafood exporters in India are becoming increasingly worried about difficulties shipping to China in advance of the Lunar New Year holiday.In the latter half of 2020, Chinese authorities reportedly detected coronavirus on the packaging of imported seafood and, in response, imposed bans on a number of exporters and implemented strict inspection measures on seafood imports. As a result, a huge number of containers of imported frozen seafood have piled up in the Chinese ports of Dalian and Tianjin as local authorities conduct COVID testing, which is now required for all seafood products passing through customs.Local governments in China have also taken aggressive measures against imported seafood over COVID concerns. In December, authorities in the northwesterly city of Xi’an, a large city in China, banned vendors from selling or stocking imported seafood. And an exporter in Gujarat’s Veraval City told SeafoodSource his firm has many containers stuck in Tianjin because his Chinese ...