From the end of June to the beginning of July, Hunan province and Hubei province were struck by rainstorms in succession. Many farming ponds in main fish production regions were damaged by the floods or troubled by the waterlogging, which caused the fishes and shrimp escaping away. The pond stock of grass carp further decreased. As a result, the grass carp price was still kept at high level, about 5.5-6 yuan/500g, which even rised to 6.1 yuan/500g in some production region. The increasing price margin led to the large increase of quantity of grass carp farmed in southern China but sold to north.
With regard to the south grass carp to north, its shipping origins are mainly located in Zhongshan, Doumen (Zhuhai), Nansha (Guangzhou), and so on. Its main target markets are Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and other provinces in central China. The fish mongers or vendors are also mainly from central China who will first sell spotted silver carp produce in central China or crucian produced in Jiangsu province to the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, and then transport and sell marketable grass carp or grass carp and yellow-head catfish fry to central China. Some distributors drive from central China to the Pearl River Delta to procure only grass carp. And some fish mongers are even resident in the Pearl River Delta to specially purchase grass carp.
At present, the aquatic product industry hasn’t have the precise statistics about the exact transaction volume regarding the south grass carp to north. One distributor in Doumen, Zhuhai, estimated that the shipping amount in Doumen each day was about 7-8 trucks (5000kg each truck) . And another fish monger in Zhongshan reckoned that the number is about 20-30 trucks each day in Zhongshan and Nansha. But industry insiders hasn’t approved the numbers yet.
Besides, it’s still not clear how long the south grass carp to north phenomenon will last this year. But, it’s certainly that the longer it remains the better it will be to help consume the grass carp stock in the Pearl River Delta, and it will even spur the fish price up in the later stage. What’s worth mentioning is that some industry insiders in Huizhou and Zhongshan stated that although the present grass carp price is relatively low, the sale is much easier.
