China: The farming dilemma behind the surge in eel prices

The Japanese Eel Festival has led to a significant increase in the demand for live eels in Japan, resulting in a sharp rise in the price of live eels exported from mainland China. This increase is due to a harvest failure of Japanese eel seed in East Asia, stricter environmental protection supervision, and a decline in the survival rate of eel farming, leading to record low stocks of adult eels. Despite these price increases, farmers are finding it difficult to make profits due to high breeding costs and increasing operating expenses. The industry is also facing challenges such as rising feed prices and a decline in eel fry fishing, which is pushing up breeding costs. The China Eel Working Committee is focusing on improving domestic consumer awareness of eels, developing the domestic market, and exploring emerging markets. The industry is encouraged to sustainably manage wild eel seedling resources, improve breeding technologies, develop diversified products, enhance domestic consumer awareness and acceptance of eels, and seek government support to improve overall industry competitiveness.

As the Japanese Eel Festival approaches, the demand for live eels in the Japanese market has surged, and the price of live eels exported from mainland China to Japan has also risen sharply. According to data from Eel.com, between July 15 and 21, the Japanese market imported The number of live eels produced in mainland China has surged to about 300 tons, double the previous week. Although the eel market is picking up, it is still difficult for farmers to make profits. Dong Shizhang, the person in charge of Changrun Ecological Fisheries Co., Ltd. in Qingliu County, revealed that even during the peak sales season, small farms can sell 20 to 30 tons of eels every two to three months, but Due to many uncertainties in the breeding process, the cost of breeding remains high, and the current selling price has only reached about 40% of the historical peak price. The main reason for the rise in eel market prices this year is that Japanese eel seed in East Asia has suffered a widespread ...