As China consumes the most shrimps in Asia, Saudi Arabia is actively exporting frozen shrimps to China and experimenting with shrimps fishing in Chinese waters. The agreement signed by the two governments last year suggested that Saudi Arabian shrimps exports could jump to 80,000 tons by 2020, generating more than $500 million in revenue.
Saudi Arabia, rich in "black gold", is actively exporting a new trade variety to China: frozen shrimps.
Ahmed Al-Bala'a, chief executive of the Saudi National Aquaculture Group, said in a statement that the world's largest oil exporter had shipped 6,000 tons of crustaceans to China since last week, and by the end of this year Saudi exporting to China should exceed 30,000 tons. The National Aquaculture Group is the only Saudi company to export shrimps to China.
It is noteworthy that this emerging trade represented by aquatic shellfish is only one step in Saudi Arabia's water test. Saudi Arabia is experimenting with shrimps fishing in Chinese waters to reduce its dependence on oil and develop new industrial lines, according to Bloomberg.
Saudi news agency reported last month that Saudi shrimps exports could jump to 80,000 tons by 2020, generating more than 2 billion rials ($533 million) in revenue, according to an agreement signed by the two governments last November.
According to UCN International Seafood Information, this year, Guangdong Hengxing Group will also start an aquaculture project with a total investment of 300 million US dollars. The group is negotiating with the Saudi Arabian government that if completed would be the largest single investment in aquaculture in the world's history.
As early as in May this year, the business office of the Chinese Embassy in Saudi Arabia said that Ahmed Iyad, the sub-minister of the Ministry of Environment, Water Resources and Agriculture of Saudi Arabia, had previously said in an interview that there were 96 aquaculture projects in Saudi Arabia, with a total investment of more than 8 billion rials ($2.13 billion), 74 of which were in operation and 22 new projects had been launched in batches.
Aquaculture industry is one of the key industries under the framework of Vision 2030. The goal is to achieve an annual output value of 100,000 tons by 2022. It is intended to further expand exports to the United States, South Korea, European countries and some Arab countries under the conditions of guaranteeing domestic market consumption.
According to the statistics of Shahaiguan Customs, the country currently exports 37,000 tons of fishes and shrimp aquaculture products annually, with a total value of nearly 1 billion rials (about US$370 million), of which Asia is its largest export destination, with an annual export volume of up to 35,000 tons.
China consumes the most shrimps in Asia. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, although China is one of the largest producers of seafood in the region, its seafood production has stagnated in recent years due to disease and bad weather
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