A few days ago, Baxian Crossing the Sea reported on Zhejiang Ocean Family Co., Ltd. with the theme of Ocean Family Global Bluefin Tuna Promotion Conference: Japanese aquatic giants gathered in Beijing.

The quantity of tuna supplied in Japan over the years (Source: Responsible Tuna Fisheries Promotion Organization OPRT)

In addition, according to statistics from FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations): Japan's tuna market was 650,000 tons in 2004, 540,000 tons in 2005, and 540,000 tons in 2009. It is 510,000 tons, which is also shrinking rapidly.

Data source: FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)

Comparing the data from the above two different sources, we can see that: OPRT statistics, the Japanese tuna sashimi market in 2005 was 480,000 tons, and FAO statistics, the Japanese tuna sashimi market in 2005 was 510,000 tons. , the difference is not big; according to OPRT statistics, the Japanese tuna sashimi market in 2009 was 308,000 tons, and according to FAO statistics, the Japanese tuna sashimi market in 2009 was 420,000 tons. The gap is already very large. Baxianguohai tends to trust Japan’s OPRT data more. After all, the Japanese know the domestic market better. If OPRT's data is more convincing, then Japan's tuna consumption will probably shrink much faster than most of us expect.

At the same time, we found that Japan’s canned tuna market has been expanding rapidly in recent years. From 50,000 tons in 2005, 60,000 tons in 2006, to 90,000 tons in 2009, the growth rate is very fast. The consumption of Japanese canned tuna has shown a trend of "European and Americanization". The current market for canned tuna in Japan exceeds 100,000 tons.

According to the latest data from Trade Map, Japan has become the seventh largest importer of canned tuna in the world in 2017.

Ranking of global canned tuna imports in 2017 (Source: Trade Map)

Judging from Japan’s import volume of canned tuna raw materials and canned finished products over the years, it showed a steady growth trend from 2016 to 2018, exceeding 60,000 tons. In addition, Japan's domestic canned tuna processing industry is also growing steadily.

Japanese bonito and bonito canned raw materials and canned imports in recent years (source ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Cross-Sea)

Look at the high-end tuna market in Japan: chilled bluefin plays the leading role

Global High-end and mid-to-high-end tuna consumer markets are mainly composed of narrow sense Three of the eight types of tuna are bluefin tuna, big eye tuna, yellowfin tuna, etc., and can be further divided into two market segments: chilled tuna and ultra-low temperature (ULT) tuna.

The global high-end tuna consumer market is mainly in Japan, but the Japanese sashimi market is shrinking. The United States is the second largest market and is still growing; China is an emerging market.

Japan’s chilled tuna market is mainly composed of farmed bluefin tuna, which has boomed in recent years, plus chilled bluefin tuna and chilled bigeye tuna caught offshore in Japan and other countries. Japan's ultra-low temperature tuna market is composed of three types of ultra-low temperature frozen bluefin tuna caught in the ocean, most of the big eye tuna, and a small amount of yellowfin tuna.

Japan’s bluefin tuna consumption is said to have accounted for 90% of global bluefin tuna production. At present, the annual global production of wild bluefin tuna is more than 40,000 tons, and the output of farmed bluefin tuna is about 40,000 tons, with a total output of more than 80,000 tons.

In Japan, bluefin tuna is mainly auctioned through the Toyoshu market (the original resident market was moved to Toyoshu), and then sold in high-end Japanese restaurants in major cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagasaki.

In the United States, bluefin tuna is mainly sold in high-end Japanese restaurants in big cities such as New York. Part of the bluefin tuna comes from the western Pacific bluefin (called Boston Tuna by locals) caught by local fishermen in the United States, which is mainly on the market in summer and autumn; part of the bluefin tuna comes from the Pacific bluefin tuna (called Oma by locals) that is auctioned at the Toyoshu market in Japan and then shipped to the United States. Tuna), mainly available in winter.

In China, the supply of bluefin tuna is mainly farmed bluefin tuna from Japan. It is mainly transported by air from Japan to big cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, and then sold to local high-end Japanese restaurants. In 2018, China imported approximately 360 tons of chilled bluefin tuna, a significant increase from 2017. Among them, the most important importer is Zhejiang Ocean Family Co., Ltd. . Ocean Family, through its subsidiary Shanghai Daling Food Co., Ltd. (a joint venture between Ocean Family, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Nagasaki Fish Market Co., Ltd.) imports from major Japanese bluefin Tuna farming companies directly import chilled bluefin tuna.

Look at bigeye and yellowfin tuna in the mid-to-high-end tuna market: ultra-low temperature plays a leading role

The mid-to-high-end tuna market is also the sashimi consumer market, mainly composed of all bigeye tuna, most yellowfin tuna, and a small amount of albacore tuna, with ultra-low temperature and low-temperature tuna, all of which are wild tuna. The main market is Japan, followed by the United States and Europe.

At present, the annual global bigeye tuna fishing output is between 250,000 tons and 300,000 tons. The main fishing countries and regions include: Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, Ecuador, Spain, China, South Korea, Seychelles , Panama and other countries. China's annual bigeye tuna fishing output is more than 20,000 tons, mainly produced by Zhejiang Ocean Family Co., Ltd. , Shenzhen Liancheng Ocean Fisheries Co., Ltd., China Water Group Ocean Co., Ltd., Shanghai Chuangchuang Ocean Fisheries Co., Ltd., etc. When fishing in the South Pacific waters, the main fishing method is longline fishing.

Bigeye tuna fishing countries and annual production (source FAO, compiled by Eight Fresh Crossing the Sea)

With the development of China’s ocean-going ultra-low temperature tuna longline fishing vessels and tuna purse seine fishing vessels, the ultra-low temperature bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna caught by Chinese fishing vessels , part of which is shipped back to China, is cut into ultra-low temperature fish fillets in coastal processing plants, and then exported to markets such as Japan, Russia, and the United States.

For example, Zhejiang Dayang Family Co., Ltd. Ningbo Fengsheng Food Co., Ltd., an ultra-low-temperature tuna processing base in the Ningbo Beilun Free Trade Zone, is engaged in ultra-low-temperature tuna fillet processing and has built a 2,000-ton minus 60-degree ultra-low temperature cold storage for use as Storage of ultra-low temperature tuna raw materials and semi-finished products.

Ningbo Fengsheng Food Factory, wholly owned by Oceanic Family, is a large-scale ultra-low temperature tuna processing plant (Photo courtesy of Oceanic Family)

In the Fengsheng Food workshop, workers are cutting ultra-low temperature tuna with electric saws (Photo courtesy of Oceanic Family)

In the Fengsheng Food workshop, workers Ultra-low temperature tuna fillets are being trimmed with a knife (Photo courtesy of Ocean Family)

In the Fengsheng Food Workshop, the trimmed ultra-low temperature tuna fillets are being packed into boxes (Photo courtesy of Ocean Family)

China’s exports of frozen tuna fillets are growing rapidly, mainly exported to Japan (ITC, Compiled by Eight Fresh Crossing the Sea)

6. The world’s largest tuna market: Japan is declining

Japan is the world’s largest tuna market and one of the first countries to catch and eat tuna. Since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has begun large-scale commercial fishing of tuna, and has always been the most important market for tuna sashimi in the world, accounting for 90% of the global high-end tuna sashimi (sashimi) market. Japan is also the world's most important bluefin tuna fishing, breeding country and consumer market.

Chilled and frozen tuna play an important role in the consumption of fresh fish (except canned and dried bonito) in Japan, accounting for about 13%.

Data source "Japanese Tuna Market Changes and Circulation Characteristics"

The consumption ratio of tuna and bonito in Japan, sashimi accounts for about 52%, bonito (dried bonito/ bonito flower ) accounts for 24%, canned bonito and Canned tuna accounts for 10%. According to the fish species, except for albacore tuna, all can be eaten as sashimi.

Japan’s bluefin tuna: global supply continues to shrink

Japan’s bluefin tuna fishing period was greatly developed in the 1960s. In addition to fishing for Pacific bluefin tuna in the northwest Pacific waters (Japan’s mainland overseas waters), Japan mainly fishes in A large number of southern bluefin tuna were caught in the waters of the eastern Indian Ocean (off the coast of Indonesia). The total annual catch of the three types of bluefin tuna reached 100,000 tons in 1962 (accounting for 70% of the global total). The total catch of the three types of bluefin tuna in the world that year was Production is 142,000 tons). As southern bluefin tuna resources declined, Japan turned to the Southeast Atlantic waters (off the east coast of Africa) to fish for Atlantic bluefin tuna in the 1970s and 1980s. After the 1990s, Japan’s bluefin tuna fishing returned to mainly relying on offshore wild Pacific bluefin tuna resources in the northwest Pacific.

Bluefin tuna fishing output in Japan's sub-sea areas (source ITC, compiled by Baxian Cross-Sea)

With the reduction of bluefin tuna fishing by Japan's domestic distant water fishing fleet and the decline of global bluefin tuna resources, the price of bluefin tuna It’s also getting more expensive. Japanese people are increasingly switching from consuming bluefin tuna sashimi to consuming bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna sashimi.

For example, the current fishing output of southern bluefin tuna is only more than 10,000 tons, mainly fished by Australian and Japanese fleets.

Global southern bluefin tuna fishing output (source ITC, compiled by eight fresh sea crossings)

For another example, in 2016, 2017 and 2018, the number of frozen bluefin tuna imported by Japan decreased significantly, mainly bluefin tuna from Mexico. Fin tuna populations have declined significantly. These all illustrate the fact that bluefin tuna consumption has become farther and farther away from Japanese citizens.

The reasons are: first, the price of wild bluefin tuna is too expensive, which limits its domestic consumption in Japan; second, the gradual rise of farmed bluefin tuna, partially replacing wild bluefin tuna; third, Japan's economic boost is slow, and after the war, The baby boom has receded, and now Japanese young people have a serious lack of consumption capacity for bluefin tuna. Fourth, Norwegian and Chilean salmon have entered Japan in large quantities, partially replacing the consumption of bluefin tuna.

Japan’s frozen bluefin tuna imports (source ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Cross-Sea)

Japan’s chilled tuna consumption: the rise of farmed bluefin tuna

The Japanese are the most picky about tuna in the world, so chilled tuna is the most popular in Japan The market is also a favorite. As the scale of Japan’s local bluefin tuna farming has continued to expand in recent years, Japan has also relied more on locally farmed Pacific bluefin tuna. At present, Japan breeds about 15,000 tons of Pacific bluefin every year, mainly supplying the domestic market, and exporting a small amount to the United States, China and other countries.

Japan’s chilled Pacific bluefin imports (source ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Cross-Sea)

In addition, Japan imports more than 4,000 tons of chilled Pacific bluefin tuna every year, most of which are farmed bluefin tuna, the most important The exporting country is Mexico. In 2018, Japan imported nearly 4,000 tons of chilled bluefin tuna from Mexico, making it the largest overseas market for Mexican farmed Pacific bluefin tuna.

In addition, Japan imports a small amount of wild chilled Pacific bluefin from South Korea. These are Pacific bluefin caught in Korean waters. Of course, Japan also fishes Pacific bluefin in its own waters. These wild-caught, chilled Pacific bluefins are considered the most expensive bluefin tuna in Japan.

Japan’s chilled southern bluefin tuna imports (source ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Cross-Sea)

In addition, Japan also imports about 2,000 tons of chilled southern bluefin tuna every year, the vast majority of which come from Australia and New Zealand. Some of the southern bluefin imported from Australia are farmed locally and some are caught locally; all of the southern bluefin imported from New Zealand are caught locally. By the way, the domestic consumption of chilled tuna in Australia and New Zealand, especially the consumption of chilled bluefin, has also been expanding in recent years.

Japan’s import volume of chilled Atlantic bluefin tuna (source ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Cross-Sea)

In addition, Japan also imports approximately 800-1,000 tons of chilled Atlantic bluefin tuna every year, mainly from Canada, the United States, Spain, Greece, France and other countries, these are locally caught wild Atlantic bluefin. Because the resources of Atlantic bluefin are still in the recovery stage, especially those in the European Mediterranean waters, the resources have not fully recovered, so the number of chilled Atlantic bluefin imported by Japan from Europe is not large.

Japan’s import volume of chilled yellowfin tuna (source ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Cross-Sea)

Finally, Japan has also imported a large amount of chilled yellowfin tuna. The main exporting countries include the Marshall Islands , Palau , and Indonesia. . However, imports have gradually decreased in recent years, mainly due to declining production. In 2018, Japan’s chilled yellowfin tuna imports reached a new low, only about 3,500 tons.

Mexico’s Pacific bluefin tuna aquaculture production (source FAO, compiled by Eight Fresh Sea Crossings)

Japan’s frozen Pacific bluefin imports have dropped sharply in recent years, from 3,500 tons in 2014 to about 200 tons in 2018. As From Mexico, the most important exporter, frozen Pacific bluefin disappeared seemingly overnight.

Japan’s frozen Pacific bluefin imports (sourced from ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Crossing the Sea)

Taking into account the rapid increase in Mexico’s Pacific bluefin farming output in recent years, and the fact that Japan imports a lot of chilled Pacific bluefin from Mexico every year in recent years, we There is reason to guess: Mexico's wild Pacific bluefin resources are decreasing, and the fishing sizes are getting smaller. Mexicans are turning to catching wild juvenile Pacific bluefins and using them to breed large-size Pacific bluefins in the form of chilled Pacific bluefins. Exported to Japan.

Japanese ultra-low temperature tuna supply: mainly relying on big eye and yellow fin

Although chilled tuna is very popular in Japan, it is expensive after all. The quality of low-temperature frozen tuna often cannot satisfy the picky taste buds of Japanese people, so ultra-low temperature (ULT) tuna occupies an important position in Japan. The ultra-low temperature tuna fishing, slaughtering, refrigeration, transportation and thawing technology were all invented by the Japanese. The entire process is kept at minus 60 degrees, so as to ensure the freshness, taste and color of the tuna, which is as close as possible to the chilled tuna. At present, global ultra-low temperature technology (or even lower liquid nitrogen technology) is mainly used in high-end seafood such as tuna, king crab, snow crab, etc., and the main consumer market is also in Japan. It can be seen that the Japanese taste buds are indeed the most developed and sophisticated in the world. Most picky.

The largest frozen tuna species imported into Japan is actually bigeye tuna, with annual imports reaching 50,000 to 70,000 tons, but imports also decreased in 2017 and 2018. Mainland China and Taiwan are the main suppliers of ultra-low temperature bigeye tuna to the Japanese market. These ultra-low-temperature bigeye tuna are mainly caught by the distant-water fishing fleets of mainland China and Taiwan in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, and are exported to Japan as ultra-low-temperature whole fish.

Import volume of frozen bigeye tuna into Japan (source: ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Crossing the Sea)

The second largest frozen tuna species imported into Japan is yellowfin tuna. Japan imports more than 40,000 tons of ultra-low-temperature yellowfin tuna every year, mainly from China. Fishing catches in the South Pacific by fleets from Taiwan, China and the Seychelles.

Japan’s frozen yellowfin tuna imports (source ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Sea Crossings)

In addition, Japan also imports more than 10,000 tons of frozen albacore tuna every year, mainly from the fishing fleets of Taiwan, China and Vanuatu in the South Pacific. Get.

Japan’s import volume of frozen albacore tuna (source: ITC, compiled by Baxian Cross-Sea)

Japan has imported a small amount of frozen southern bluefin tuna in recent years and has remained stable. The main exporting country is Australia, followed by South Korea and Taiwan, China, which shows that wild southern bluefin tuna resources have not recovered.

Japan’s frozen southern bluefin tuna quantity (source ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Crossing the Sea)

Japan’s frozen bluefin tuna import volume has dropped sharply in recent years, from nearly 4,000 tons in 2014 to about 300 tons in 2018. .

Japan’s frozen bluefin tuna imports (source: ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Cross-Sea)

In addition, Japan also imports more than 40,000 tons of frozen tuna fillets every year, mainly from China, South Korea, Malta and other countries, and it is estimated that many of them are from these countries. The ultra-low-temperature tuna caught by fishing boats is transported back to China and processed into ultra-low-temperature fillets, which are then exported to Japan. For example, Zhejiang Ningbo Fengsheng Food Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ocean Family Co., Ltd. , exports ultra-low-temperature tuna fillets and Fish segments.

Japan’s import volume of frozen tuna fillets (sourced by ITC, compiled by Baxian Cross-Sea)

Most of the above frozen tuna imports are ultra-low temperature tuna, including mainly big eye, yellow fin, long fin, and a small amount of blue fin. Together they form Japan’s ultra-low temperature tuna market, which is also the world’s largest ultra-low temperature tuna consumer market.

The reason why Japan’s ultra-low temperature tuna market is developed is not only because of the decline of bluefin tuna resources, but also because Japan has developed a complete global ultra-low temperature tuna supply chain in recent decades. From the origin to the dining table, Japan’s ultra-low temperature cold chain system is very Complete. Unfortunately, global tuna resources are declining, and the supply of ultra-low-temperature tuna is also decreasing.

7. China’s tuna market: a rising market

China has always been considered one of the important countries in tuna fishing in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, but it has never been a major tuna processing and consumer country.

China’s tuna fishing and processing

China’s distant-water fishing fleet currently mainly catches bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna (China’s Taiwan fleet also catches bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna), and mainly exports ultra-low temperature tuna to Japan. market.

Most of the whole ultra-low temperature tuna caught by the offshore fishing fleets of China and Taiwan will be shipped to China first, where they will be processed into ultra-low temperature tuna fillets in ultra-low temperature tuna processing plants along the coast of China, and then exported to the Japanese market; less Some of them will be directly exported to Japan in their entirety, auctioned at the Toyoshu Wholesale Market in Tokyo, Japan, and then entered into the Japanese domestic market.

When talking about the ultra-low temperature tuna fishing and processing of China’s distant-water fishing fleet, it is necessary to mention Zhejiang Ocean Family Co., Ltd. . Ocean Family is currently one of the largest tuna fishing companies in China, with 18 ultra-low temperature tuna longline fishing vessels and 4 groups of tuna seine fishing vessels. Ocean Family currently has two tuna processing bases in Ningbo, Zhejiang. In 2018, the tuna processing trade volume historically exceeded 135,000 tons.

Ningbo Fengsheng Food Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Ocean Family, is located in Ningbo Beilun Free Trade Zone. The factory area is 31,500 square meters and the processing plant area is more than 10,000 square meters. It also has two supporting -25℃ cold storages with a capacity of 30,000 tons and a capacity of 2,000 Two tons of -60°C ultra-low temperature cold storage are mainly used to process ultra-low temperature tuna, low-temperature tuna and squid products. Ningbo Today Food Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Ocean Family, is located in Xikou, Fenghua, Ningbo. The factory covers an area of ​​45,000 square meters and a factory building of 30,000 square meters. It has ten fish fillet production lines, four canned tuna, two mackerel and other fish The canning production line produces and processes 50,000 tons of tuna and mackerel raw materials annually. The main products include: frozen tuna fillets, tuna, mackerel, salmon, canned sardines of various sizes and flavors, tuna series of nutritious fish floss, tuna fish meal and fish oil, etc.

Import of chilled bluefin tuna: Ocean Family dominates

China’s import of chilled Pacific bluefin tuna (source ITC, compiled by Baxian Cross-Sea)

We found that China’s import of chilled bluefin tuna, especially the import of chilled Pacific bluefin The volume has grown rapidly in recent years, especially in 2108, when the growth rate was huge. The annual import volume was nearly 350 tons, 95% of which came from Japan, which seemed to indicate that the outbreak of chilled bluefin was coming.

Speaking of which, we need to mention two Japanese companies and one Chinese company: Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan's Nagasaki Fish Market and China's Zhejiang Dayang Shijia Co., Ltd. . In 2014, the three companies jointly established Shanghai Daling Food Co., Ltd. The company was established and became one of the first companies to sell Japanese-cultured chilled bluefin tuna in China. With the gradual coverage of Ocean Family's sales channels in Japanese food counters and high-end Japanese food stores in supermarkets in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, more and more high-end Chinese customers have begun to have the opportunity to eat farmed bluefin tuna flown from Japan.

At present, Ocean Family occupies more than 60% of the market for imported chilled bluefin tuna in China. On the basis of importing Pacific bluefin tuna farmed in Japan, it also imports a small amount of farmed chilled southern bluefin tuna from Australia and tries to Chilled Pacific bluefin tuna is imported from Mexico, and chilled Atlantic bluefin tuna is imported from Spain. A market for chilled bluefin tuna is developing rapidly in China.

According to our experience, China's chilled bluefin tuna consumer market is likely to develop rapidly in the next 5-10 years, becoming one of the world's major chilled bluefin tuna consumer markets, and reaching annual consumption in the future Scale of 5000-10000 tons. Maybe bluefin tuna farming in southern China will also take off in a few years.

We predict that with the rise of the chilled bluefin tuna market, other chilled tuna markets will quickly follow suit. Because chilled bluefin must be expensive, other chilled tuna can fill the gap in the market for chilled bluefin. For example, we found that China’s imports of chilled bigeye tuna have also grown rapidly in recent years.

The number of chilled yellowfin tuna imported into China (source ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Cross-Sea)

We found that China’s chilled yellowfin tuna imports have shown exponential growth almost simultaneously with the chilled bluefin. This seems to indicate that ultra-low temperature tuna has been unable to open the market in China for a long time and is facing a break.

Chilled tuna market: Reasons for the rise of Chinese consumption

We guess that it is probably related to several reasons:

1. Enterprises represented by Ocean Family and Japanese companies have continued to promote chilled bluefin tuna in the Chinese market in recent years. , is gradually changing Chinese consumers' impression of tuna in China, because the negative impression of low-quality tuna treated with carbon monoxide on Chinese consumers is gradually disappearing;

2, because the Norwegian Seafood Agency and other institutions have vigorously promoted chilled tuna in China for many years. Salmon, Chinese consumers have developed a habit of consuming chilled red meat fish;

3, Japanese restaurants in China are gradually upgrading from low-end conveyor belt sushi and izakaya in the past to mid-to-high-end Japanese cuisine, and are increasingly interested in chilled tuna. The demand for tuna is growing;

4, the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Japan has hit new highs. More and more Chinese consumers have experienced the difference between high-quality tuna, especially chilled tuna, and ordinary tuna from their consumption experience in Japan. Huge difference;

5. The most important thing is: Chinese people are becoming richer and more willing to spend more money to enjoy high-quality food;

6. Japan's tuna consumer market is gradually shrinking. Although Japan is still the world's largest tuna market, young Japanese people are increasingly switching to beef and pork consumption, and their interest in red meat fish consumption represented by tuna and salmon is gradually decreasing. At the same time, the income of young people in Japan has barely grown for many years, which has severely limited their ability to consume tuna;

6, chilled salmon is also encountering a series of problems in China, such as the salmon and rainbow trout that occurred in 2018 How to tell the difference, salmon parasite problems, death and escape in salmon farming, etc. have also cast a shadow on the image of salmon in the minds of Chinese consumers.

China’s ultra-low temperature salmon market: the cold chain is a shortcoming

In fact, tuna has existed in the Chinese market for many years, but tuna sashimi consumption has been slow to develop. In addition to low-quality tuna treated with carbon monoxide, bad coins drive out good coins, and ice In addition to the reasons why fresh salmon dominates China's sashimi market, a very important reason is that China's cold chain transportation, especially ultra-low temperature cold chain systems, have not been established.

China's chilled bluefin tuna market has developed rapidly in recent years, partly because chilled bluefin tuna does not need to rely on ultra-low temperature cold chain.

But after all, chilled bluefin tuna is expensive. If you want to leverage China's tuna sashimi consumption, you still need to vigorously develop the cold chain of ultra-low temperature tuna. Only in this way can the relatively cheap ultra-low temperature bigeye tuna and ultra-low temperature tuna be made available. Yellowfin tuna has truly entered the Chinese market.

For related knowledge about ultra-low temperature tuna, please refer to the article "Tuna Golden Family, 22 Knights of the Sea Show Their Magical Powers" published at the same time today.

8. Muyu flower market: Japanese consumption, made in China

Finally, let’s talk about the Muyu flower market. Katsuobushi is made from dried bonito (bonito knuckle). The bonito that has been baked and dried many times is cut into thin slices and stored in a vacuum or filled with nitrogen, waiting for use. The main market of bonito flower is in Japan, where it is also a common traditional condiment.

Japan's bonito processing part turns to China

The processing of bonito (dried whole bonito), the raw material of bonito flower, used to be mainly done in Japan, but in recent years it has gradually turned to China.

China’s frozen bonito and bonito (Oriental fox tuna) imports (source ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Cross-Sea)

China’s frozen bonito imports increased significantly in 2018, in addition to the rapid development of China’s canned tuna processing mentioned earlier , we estimate that it also has a certain relationship with more bonito processing turning to China. In 2018, China’s frozen bonito imports reached nearly 80,000 tons.

China’s export volume of frozen tuna, bonito and bonito (Oriental fox bonito) fillets (source ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Cross-Sea)

At the same time, we noticed that China’s frozen tuna, bonito and bonito fillets were exported in 2018 Export volume is also growing rapidly, with the main destination being Japan. Frozen bonito and bonito fillets are mainly used to process dried bonito in Japan. Therefore, we estimate that it is possible that Japanese companies outsourced some of the front-end processes of bonito processing to Chinese processing plants. Of course, this is just speculation and needs further confirmation.

A look at the katsuobushi market in Japan: bonito plays the leading role

The Japanese particularly like bonito. They process the bonito into dried bonito, and cut the dried bonito into thin slices to make katsuobushi. Katsuobushi flower is one of the most important basic condiments in Japanese cuisine. Together with kombu made from kelp, miso paste made from soybeans, and sake made from rice, they together form the most basic taste of Japanese cuisine.

The global bonito flower market is mainly made from bonito and other raw materials. Japan occupies the vast majority of the market share, and the main processing base is also in Japan.

Dried bonito and kombu (dried kelp) are the most common dried goods in Japan and are also daily condiments

Dried bonito is processed into a barracuda shape, even a bit like a knife

Some people even cut dried bonito into a dagger shape

Pinch of bonito Dried and cut into "shavings" type flakes are "bonito flowers". There are a variety of flavors in Japanese supermarkets

Bonito is the species with the largest fishing output of the tuna family in the world. Japan is the third largest bonito fishing country in the world. In recent years, Japanese bonito Fishing production is also declining, but remains at the level of 200,000 tons. Many of Japan's native bonito are used to make dried bonito and katsuobushi.

Japan’s bonito fishing output over the years (source FAO, compiled by Eight Fresh Crossing the Sea)

Japan also imports a certain amount of frozen bonito and bonito (Oriental bonito) every year to make up for the shortage of supply in the domestic market. The import volume in 2018 Around 30,000 tons. It is estimated that some of the eight fresh fish that have crossed the sea may be made into dried bonito.

Japan’s import volume of frozen bonito and tuna over the years (source: ITC, compiled by Eight Fresh Cross-Sea)

The above is the supply situation of bonito raw materials in the Japanese market. The main uses of these bonito in the Japanese market are: 1) processed into canned bonito (affordable canned tuna) for domestic consumption in Japan, 2) processed into bonito and bonito flowers for domestic consumption in Japan.

Conclusion: China's tuna industry is rising rapidly

Through the above analysis, it is not difficult to see that China's tuna industry is rising.It mainly includes the following aspects: