A Detailed Overview of the Loach Market Value and Import-Export Situation
From the domestic market perspective, loach is consumed throughout the country, but consumption is relatively high in the Sichuan-Chongqing region. Aside from the supply of wild loach during peak season, most is brought in from Jiangsu, Henan and other places with large farming operations, and the market price is slightly higher than in areas where loach farming is concentrated, and it shows a year-by-year rising trend. Taking the Chengdu market alone as an example: in 2005 loach sold for about 8 -10 yuan per kilogram; in 2007 a craze for eating "stone pot loach" swept in, and in Chengdu and even all the major cities of Sichuan, loach hot pot restaurants could be seen everywhere, and demand for loach and its price both soared, rising to more than 20 yuan per kilogram. By around the Spring Festival of 2008, it even reached a high price of more than 30 yuan per kilogram.
Pictured: Zhougudui loach market
Looking across the national market, the price of the loach market has also climbed almost every year: in 1995 it was 10 yuan per kilogram, in 2002 it rose to 15-19 yuan per kilogram, and in recent years it has risen again to 20-25 yuan. Even in Jiangsu Province, which has the custom that "eating loach will cause a 'pointed mouth'", consumption in recent years has also been gradually rising; the daily sales volume of the Nanjing market alone reached about 1.3 tons. In the April 2009 peak loach sales season, its daily sales volume also reached more than 5 tons, and the price was relatively high (20-35 loaches per kilogram, priced at 30-32 yuan/kg; 40 -50 loaches per kilogram, priced at 26-28 yuan/kg).
On the international market, loach sales have also consistently been viewed favorably. South Korea, Japan and the Hong Kong and Macao regions of China all place large orders; Lianyungang City in Jiangsu Province alone exports several thousand tons, or even more than ten thousand tons, of live loach to South Korea every year, and its export volume has also shown a year-by-year rising trend: in 2003, live loach exports from the Lianyungang port alone reached 2,175.7 tons, a net increase of 74.76 tons over 2002. From January to October 2004, it exported even more live loach, 2,250.46 tons, an increase of 99.5% over the same period of the previous year. In 2008, the Lianyungang Inspection and Quarantine Bureau inspected and quarantined a total of 510 batches of exported loach, 7,698.699 tons, with a value of 2 430.256 7 million US dollars, an increase of 41.7%, 41.4% and 627% in batches, quantity and value respectively compared with the same period in 2007, accounting for 80% of the country's total exports to South Korea. Huaiyuan County in Anhui Province, Weishan County in Shandong Province, Fan County in Henan Province, Ninghe County in Tianjin, Shenyang City in Liaoning Province and other places also export large quantities of loach products to South Korea, Japan and other places every year.