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Aquaculture Department
Title: A Regional Survey of the Aquaculture Sector in East Asia...
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Brunei imports about 63% of its domestic fish consumption mainly in the form of fresh marine
finfishes, shrimps, and prawns. In 1984 about 55% of the shrimps and prawns consumed in
the country were imported fresh from Sarawak and Sabah in East Malaysia. Of this volume
more than 88% were marine species and the rest freshwater prawns.
FMO and is sold at one of seven wholesale markets operated by FMO throughout the country.
No such controls exist over the wholesale marketing of freshwater fish, however, and
marketing is left to the private sector with Government providing only essential facilities and
services required to contain marketing costs, and provide for orderly and hygienic marketing.
In Japan fish landed at local fishermen's markets are handled by fish cooperatives in the
locality. The landed fish are then transacted between the production district wholesalers, and
marketing dealers, and the processors at the wholesale markets under auction or open tender.
At the consumer district wholesale markets transactions are between wholesalers and middlewholesalers by auction or bidding; the fish are then sold by wholesalers to retailers who in turn
sell them to the consumers. The Tokyo Central Wholesale Market handles about 800 000 t of
fish products per year, as a result of which wholesale prices determined at the Central Market
become the price index of fish products for the whole country.
In Taiwan PC all sales of fish must be made through wholesale markets of the locality where
fish is landed, or to which it is transported. The fish market in the production centre is run by
local fishermen's associations, and in the consuming centres by a joint central committee
organized by local fishermen's associations and local city or township. The auction at fish
markets is only attended by retailers, large consumers, and registered wholesalers. A large
portion of fish is sold directly to wholesalers, or processing plants in landing or harvest sites.
The other countries of the region are not as well organized in their marketing of fish and fishery
products. In Brunei carrier boats operated by wholesalers collect fish from fish traps or from
villages and bring them to the centres. Otherwise fishermen themselves deliver their fish either
to wholesalers or directly to retail markets in major population centres or to small village
markets.
The Philippine traditional system of fish marketing is unique in that trading is done by whisper
bidding ("bulungan") which results in the secrecy of bids. Prospective buyers whisper their bids
to the broker or middleman who selects his buyer not necessarily on the basis of the highest
price offered but also on other factors such as credit-worthiness and goodwill. The Philippine
marketing chain is also unique in its decisive use of middlemen in a wide variety of capacities
and at various stages of the marketing and distribution network for fishery products.
In China there is no complex marketing system. Marketing and supply cooperatives are the
main distribution channels for fish products. Market outlets for fish products are either the large
and modern state-owned markets which handle more than 90% of the total amount of fish
distributed, or small and not very well maintained free markets or rural trade fairs with poor
facilities and which sell negligible amounts of fish.
Marketing and distribution of fish products in China are not regulated by supply and demand
forces but are administered through the State Plan. In the small, recently established free
markets, however, fish may be sold at prices determined by supply and demand, with
premium prices given to producers if fish arrive live at the market, or if they are delivered
before five o'clock in the morning.
From the fish landing sites and/or wholesale or retail fish markets, the fish are generally
transported by land to the various population/consuming centres. Transport and distribution
facilities vary from highly modern to crude or inefficient. In Japan, Taiwan PC, Korea, and Hong
Kong, for example, fish distribution makes use of refrigerated vans or trucks which haul the
produce through long stretches of well-paved roads. In Japan fish are distributed also by boats
or freight trains to all areas, packed in cartons, and frozen or chilled in ice.
In Taiwan PC efficient cold storage equipment and transport administration enable the delivery
of fish fresh from the production centres to the consumption centres. The same is true for
Republic of Korea where the major fish producing centres are provided with modern cold
storage facilities, and frozen fish are supplied to all places by refrigerated vans.
In contrast, port facilities, ice plants, and cold storage facilities in the Philippines are inadequate
as there is much to be desired in the handling and distribution of fish for domestic
consumption. This is also true in Laos and Viet Nam where transport methods are primitive,
marketing facilities are few, and icing is insufficient for long distance transport.
A large percentage of the fish sold in the regional markets is sold fresh, chilled, and ungutted,
and the rest processed in a variety of forms. The fishery commodities range from finfishes
(marine and freshwater) to crustaceans (shrimps and prawns), molluscs (clams, oysters,
abalone, mussels, scallops), and seaweeds (brown, red, and green).
Among the finfishes, the carps (bighead, silver, grass, rohu, common, black and crucian),
mullet, red sea bream, sea bass, and groupers are popular in Hong Kong, China, DPR Korea,
Laos, and Taiwan PC. In Japan, the most popular cultured finfishes are yellowtail, eel, red sea
bream, carp, and "ayu" (a salmonid). Milkfish and tilapia are widely preferred in the Philippines
and Taiwan PC, as they are in Viet Nam.
Crustaceans sold in the regional markets are either marine or brackishwater shrimps, mainly
penaeids belonging to various species of the genus Penaeus (the most common being
monodon, orientalis, penicillatus, merguiensis) and the species Metapenaeus ensis, or are
freshwater prawns of the genus Macrobrachium. Consumer preference for penaeid shrimps is
wider than for freshwater prawns, with the latter having good markets only in Brunei, Taiwan,
and Viet Nam.
Among the molluscs, oysters are perhaps the most popular in the region, with practically all the
countries consuming the bulk of their own local production. In RO Korea oysters are canned
and exported mainly to the United States; scallops are highly popular in China and Japan, and
mussels are widely consumed in China, the Philippines, Korea, and Viet Nam.
A large volume of seaweeds is marketed and consumed fresh or dried in Japan, the most
popular being "nori" (laver or Porphyra), "konbu" (kelp or Laminaria), and "wakame" (sea
mustard or Undaria). These same species are widely eaten in Korea and China. In the
Philippines the most popular seaweed species are Eucheuma cottonii and E. spinosum. Minor
species consumed in the Philippines are Sargassum and Gracilaria, the latter also being
popular in Viet Nam.
Fish not sold fresh are processed into a wide range of products in the region. The most
common methods of processing include salting and drying, canning, pickling or fermentation,
and preparation of traditional pastes and sauces (as Viet Nam's "muoc mam" and the
Philippines' "bagoong" and "patis").
Smoked milkfish, sometimes deboned before smoking, is a delicacy in the Philippines and is
exported to Filipino communities in the United States and the Middle East. Other conveniencefood items sold in Philippine markets include fishballs and fish sausages. The latter are also
popular in China and Hong Kong.
In Japan there are traditional ways of processing fish which are so integrated into the food life
of the people that they are inseparable from the diet. These include "kamaboko", a kneaded
fish product; "katsuobushi", dried skipjack; and "shishara", dried sardine and salted fish. Japan
is also the world's largest squid/cuttlefish producing and consuming nation. The pattern of
utilization of squid in Japan is varied, with squid consumed raw (as "sashimi"), smoked, salted,
dried ("surume"), canned, and prepared as "chimi". The Japanese also process seaweed in a
variety of forms - powder, flakes, shreds, sticks, or bricks.
In Taiwan PC fish and fishery products are processed using modern equipment and
processing methods, such as vacuum-packing under low temperatures and drying. Particular
emphasis is now given to canning, and the Taiwan Fisheries Canning Bureau has been
established to promote high quality canned fish.
With the exception of Laos and Mongolia, which did not register any export statistics in 1986,
all other countries in the region export fish products. While this is so, however, only six
countries (China, DPR Korea, Republic of Korea, Philippines, Taiwan PC, and Viet Nam) are
net exporters with positive fish commodity trade balances. The rest (Brunei, Hong Kong,
Japan, Macau, and Mongolia) are net fish importers (see Annex I, Table 4).
In the net fish exporting countries the volume of fish and fish products exported constitutes a
small percentage of fish compared with their total fish supply. For example, while China's
export volume of 180 000 t in 1986 is a high figure it is only about 2% of the country's total fish
production. The Philippines' total exports of 200 099 t is only 10.4% of its total fish supply in
1986.
The situation in Hong Kong is unique. While its total catch in 1986 was 213 557 t it exported
396 868 t the same year. At the same time it imported 624 726 t, most of which it re-exported
to other countries in the region, notably China and Japan. In 1983, chilled and frozen marine
fish and prawns were Hong Kong's most important export items, making up about 53% of total
exports and re-exports by weight, and 71% by value.
China is the largest fish exporter in East Asia mainly of fresh/frozen fish (mostly Chinese carps
and wuchang fish), penaeid shrimps (mainly Penaeus orientalis, P. penicillatus, and P.
merguiensis), and shellfish (clams and ark shell) to Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Southeast
Asia, and even the USA. Recently it has been exporting about 50% of its shrimp production,
primarily to Japan and secondarily to the USA and Canada.
The Republic of Korea exports a large volume of seaweeds, mainly dried brown and red
seaweeds, to Japan. Seaweeds comprise about 8.1% of the total Korean export value of
marine products. It has a monopoly of supplying salted sea mustard (Undaria) or "wakame" to
Japan, of which it exported 23 000 t valued at US$ 30 million in 1982. It also exports Hizikia
fusiforme, a tender edible brown seaweed to Japan. In 1982, RO Korea exported 2 344 t of this
seaweed valued at US$ 13 million. RO Korea likewise exports oysters, mostly canned and
mainly to the USA, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Canned oysters are the
leading marine export product of RO Korea, bringing in US$ 27.5 million in 1982 and
comprising about 54% of its canned marine products.
Philippine aquaculture exports include mainly jumbo tiger shrimps (Penaeus monodon) and
seaweeds. These, together with frozen tuna, squid/cuttlefish, shellcraft, and minor sea
products (e.g. jellyfish and shark fin) comprised 101 453 t valued at approximately US$ 243
million. Of this volume, shrimps constituted some 11 350 t valued at about US$ 105 million, or
roughly 43% of total export earnings from fish and fishery products. About 86% of the
Philippines' total shrimp export is shipped to Japan, and the rest to the USA, Australia, Hong
Kong, Singapore, and Europe. About 96% of the shrimps are exported frozen/chilled, and the
balance prepared or preserved.
Cultured milkfish in the Philippines is slowly gaining export markets abroad. The quantity
exported has tripled since 1980 and reached 1 863 t valued at about US$ 4.4 million in 1986.
Exports include mainly fresh-frozen/ chilled milkfish, and small quantites in preserved form
(dried, salted, cooked in brine, smoked, and cooked sardine-style). Over 80% is exported to
the USA, and the rest to Filipino communities in the Middle East and Canada.
Seaweeds are another major export item of the Philippines. About 70 to 80% of the total
seaweed production is exported in a dried form, and 20 to 30% is processed into semi-refined
products. Major importers of Philippine seaweed (mainly of the genus Eucheuma) are
Denmark, France, Spain, USA, RO Korea. Japan, Argentina, Taiwan PC. and China. In 1986
raw Eucheuma material exports were about 21 186 t with an estimated value of US$ 8.8
million.
Taiwan PC is the largest exporter of shrimp to Japan, supplying some 50 000 t or 20% of the
Japanese shrimp imports in 1987. It is also a large supplier of eels to the Japanese market,
providing more than one-third of the Japanese consumption of this commodity. In addition to its
shrimp exports Taiwan PC is exporting increasing volumes of formulated shrimp feeds to the
different shrimp-producing countries of the region, notably the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand,
and Malaysia. Its commercial fish feeds have successfully penetrated and gained a large share
of the local feed markets in these countries. Taiwan PC also exports farm equipment and
supplies to its Asian neighbours, such as paddlewheels and other aerators, pumps, technical
instruments (e.g. refractometers, DO/pH meters), and feed mills, among others.
In the large exporting countries the governments provide investment incentives to export
producers to encourage production. In the Philippines, for example, export producers enjoy the
following privileges: tax credit equivalent on sales, reduced income tax, exemption from sales
tax, additional deduction of 1% from taxable income for using new brand names, tax and dutyfree importation of capital equipment, deduction of 10% that a registered export trader may
pass on to a registered export producer.