Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus edwardsii) is produced exclusively in Southern Australia and New Zealand and is regarded as one of the most highly prized live seafood products in the China market. For many years it has enjoyed a dominant position over most other species of lobster with prices at times up to 2-3 times higher than many other lobster offerings.
New Zealand and Australian exporters have close and long standing relationships with Chinese seafood importers but lack a good understanding of what drives the end users decision making in choosing which species of lobster to purchase. As the China market is rapidly changing and other producers of lobster and comparable seafood offerings look to emulate the success of Southern Rock Lobster it is imperative to understand the premium positioning it has and what strategies can be used to strengthen its position. There is now significant business investment in Australian lobster companies by NZ lobster companies. This investment has provided an increased incentive fort eh two countries to work collaboratively in their main market as it enables companies to supply year round (Australia and NZ fishing seasons are complementary).
The draft final report for 2012/741 Market diversification opportunities for SRL has identified that while there are good business reasons to diversify away from China that there is significant opportunity to be gained by better understanding the china market. In particular the report recommends building the direct channel to China. The advantage of working with NZ to do this is that they already have aFTA with China and reportedly more than 90% of all lobster exported from NZ to China goes through the direct channel.
Following a face to face meeting in Melbourne in October 2013 a working group comprising NZ and Australian SRL exporters has been established to develop a collaborative market research project to better understand the opportunities to position SRL in China against increasing competition from other lobster producing nations and from other seafood and high end food sources.
