Sri Lanka to re-enter $15 bn Chinese seafood market

Sri Lanka is preparing to re-enter the US$15 billion Chinese seafood market following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China’s General Administration of Customs.

The deal will immediately allow 38 Sri Lankan companies to more easily export 33 local products including 29 aquatic products to China before signing the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries, Finance Ministry sources revealed.

The General Administration Customs of China (GACC) recently approved the amended health certificate, thereby enabling the import of fisheries and aquatic products from Sri Lanka from July 1, an official of the Export Development Board (EDB) told the Business Times.

With the efforts of the EDB, Department of Fisheries and the Sri Lanka Embassy in China, the certificate was upgraded to meet the quarantine requirements of the GACC – Import and Export Food Safety

Bureau, he disclosed.

Some 29 seafood and aquaculture export products such as frozen fish, crabs, prawns, lobsters crabs, shrimp, swordfish, and sea cucumbers are required to obtain necessary clearance from the relevant authorities of the importing country China.

Sri Lanka exported 1.3 million kg of seafood worth $1 billion to China last year and progressed from 14th rank in 2019 to 10th seafood export destination in 2020. It has come down to $ 61.01 million during January – March 2023 from $64.60 million during the same period in 2022.

China’s requirements for seafood imports are expected to increase to as high as 18 million tons by 2030.

Rising wealth among urban consumers, increased consumption of seafood, and a shift towards more marine species are among factors that make China a high potential export market.

Trade in goods is not the only subject of China’s free trade agreements; services, investment, and intellectual property rights are also included, as are government procurements, Ministry sources said. Sri Lanka has prepared a list of 451 export goods for tariff concessions under the proposed Sri Lanka-China Free Trade Agreement (SLCFTA), while China too has prepared a similar number of export goods to be demarcated as eligible for concessions, he added.

China’s requirements for seafood imports are expected to increase to as high as 18 million tons by 2030.