Oyster producers like Liu have the best of both worlds: strong domestic demand and prices, as well as growing Chinese demand. The 50-100 tons he shipped in 2011 and 2012 is a reduction on what he was shipping five years ago: Liu has had to reduce the shipments in order to ensure oyster stocks remain stable and able to supply both domestic and export demand.
However, a significant challenge to production is a lack of availability of West Coast seashore due to acidification — a problem that has also driven up domestic oyster prices. “The biggest challenge we have now is to get the production we used to have. The lack of oyster larvae or seed supplies on the West Coast due to ocean acidification has been a huge problem for our oyster industry for a few years. Hatcheries Just cannot produce the quantities of larvae they used to produce. This problem has also driven up domestic oyster prices.”
Liu is now trying to come up with varieties of oyster sizes that will compete well with the French Gillardeau varieties that are especially popular in upscale Chinese restaurants. He recalled a trade show encounter in China with a Gillardeau supplier: “He got a big surprise when he test tasted our oysters and found the size, flavor and meat content all compared favorably with the Gillardeau.”
Liu expects to see more Western-style dining establishments in China, “including the steak and seafood kind of places you see in New York.” He’s in a unique position to understand Chinese demand, and U.S. supply.
A masters graduate of the prestigious Fisheries College of Ocean University of China (Qingdao), located in the seafood processing hub on the east China coast, Liu had gone to the United States in 1992 to study oyster breeding techniques, focusing in his studies on the long-term genetic diversity of oysters at Oregon State University. Liu was doing field research at Oregon Oyster Farms, located on Yaquina Bay, when the business went on the market. Liu and two partners bought the business.
The focus was first on the domestic market, selling oysters first to the tourists flocking to Newport, but the farm later began selling to New York and Washington, D.C., restaurants. Then, 10 years ago, Taiwan buyers came calling: they were looking for large-sized (larger than 6 inches) oysters, recalled Liu. That soon led to interest from mainland China.
Customers include the Canadian-run Starfish restaurant in Beijing, as well as a national restaurant chain (he declines to name it) based on the east coast with branches nationwide. An example of the expansion of Chinese seafood restaurant chains, the fact that this chain has its own national distribution channel makes it a good channel for imported seafood such as oysters.
“We are picky about who we choose to supply,” said Liu, who likes the opportunities for diners’ feedback he gets from customers like Starfish. “I want to keep these customers, and they know everything I provide is sustainable and traceable and they know that I will be a long-term supplier. One of the big problems in the oyster market is that many oysters are not traceable.”
Before being approached by Taiwanese buyers a decade ago, Liu had been planning to switch to smaller oysters, in line with domestic U.S. demand, but will now continue to supply the Asian market. There are several reasons why China seeks large size oysters, according to Liu. “In southern China there are big oysters but without favorable conditions like cooler water, the bacteria count rises, and the oysters get very mushy. Thus it’s difficult to consume these raw.” Also in Shandong province, a key fisheries region, there are a lot of oysters, but the typhoon season and local cultivation methods mean the oyster crop is often not allowed to mature into large sizes.
Meanwhile, large-size oysters are clearly gaining favor with Beijing’s wealthier diners. Seven years ago there were no oyster bars in Beijing, now there are 20 or 30. Recently opened in Beijing’s new Indigo shopping mall, Toyo Jazz serves 10 varieties of French oysters with prices ranging from RMB 38 (USD 6.10, EUR 4.60) to RMB 88 (USD 14.12, EUR 10.65) and a special offer of six oysters for RMB 240 (USD 38.50, EUR 29.06). Local oysters meanwhile retail at RMB 15 (USD 2.41, EUR 1.82) per piece in Beijing seafood establishments such as the Qing Chun Dalian seafood restaurant in the Chaoyang business district.
