A major export challenge for NSW professional fishing companies has been the perceived need to have large volumes of a single species that can be sold in bulk on commodity markets. The emergence of e-commerce platforms and the consequent shortening of the supply chain has created opportunities to develop niche markets for seafood products that have not been traditionally exported to China.
The Seafood CRC undertook a large research project on the China market and the information gained through that project is now available through the FRDC. The learnings from the Abalone and Rock Lobster industry about the changing demographics and the changing expectation of consumers in those markets has identified the potential for developing smaller niche markets within China.
Australia’s competitive advantage for seafood is not only its clean and green image but also the fact that we have a huge variety of sustainably wild caught seafood products. This matches the increased demand from China for such products. The GFresh B-to-B E-commerce platform is relatively new (has been operating for two years) and has mainly focused on live high value product traded globally with China. As such it is the leading B2B e-commerce platform for seafood. GFresh is looking to expand its platform to include other forms of seafood including chilled and frozen products.
The current industry reform being rolled out in NSW has created an imperative for NSW Professional Fishing companies to add value to their businesses and developing a niche export market, capitalising on the changes to the export infrastructure that will support such a development, is a good opportunity to do this.