Chinese-Australian Anya Cai says she is doing “all that she can” to help Australian lobster merchants who are doing it tough during the normally busy Lunar New Year period.
The Melburnian recently set up a group on Chinese social media app WeChat to organise “group purchases” of lobsters from Western Australian merchants.
The move comes after until the coronavirus crisis is over.
Exporters in Australia and New Zealand have been forced to cancel shipments to China and consider releasing live catch back into the ocean.
China is the world’s biggest importer of lobsters, a demand partly met by suppliers in South Australia and Western Australia.
A lobster from one of the group purchases. Source: Supplied
Around 95 per cent of South Australian lobsters are exported to China each year.
According to the Queensland Seafood Industry Association, sales of coral trout have also plummeted, forcing around 40 boats to be pulled from the waters.
Geraldton Fishermen's Co-operative controls more than 60 per cent of Western Australia’s rock lobster catch.
The company, which sells 90 per cent of its rock lobsters to China, placed a stop-supply order on its members on January 24.
"The timing of the outbreak has exacerbated the impact on the seafood sector, as most Australian seafood processors would have been preparing for peak Lunar New Year sales," Geraldton Fishermen's Co-operative spokesperson Shaun McInnes told SBS Mandarin.
"With China closed, most exporters will be looking to redistribute product to domestic and alternative export markets."
The downturn in trade has seen a rise in posts on WeChat, which are promoting discounted group purchases for lobsters.
Ms Cai said her decision to set up the WeChat group was to “help” local merchants.
lobster group purchase Source: Supplied
"Our group is a not-for-profit organisation," she said.
"As it is non-profit, we hope more people can continue to help so it can last."
Over the past two weeks, Ms Cai and 30 others have facilitated the purchase of about 1 tonne of lobster from Western Australia.
"We had placed orders for 10 boxes of lobsters within a day, about 100kg," she said.
"The next day we organised another purchase for a two-hour limited period, and another 250kg was settled."
Encouraged by the group’s initial efforts, Ms Cai organised a second wave of group purchases the following week.
At present, the group has attracted around 1,500 prospective buyers, half of whom have already placed orders.
She says many Chinese Australians who bought lobsters from the group have expressed to her that they are very happy to be able to buy lobsters at a good price while helping Australian local companies during a challenging time.
The group is planning to incorporate oysters and abalone in future group purchases.
Is the local demand enough?
Julius Wei, Chief financial analyst of ALLFIN, a Melbourne-based company providing analysis to local and overseas Chinese investors, said relying on domestic demand during this trying period may not be enough to save the lobster economy.
"Australian seafood exports to China are worth nearly $200 million, and 90-95 per cent of Australian lobsters are exported to China," he said.
"Local markets will consume some Australian lobsters, but the consumption is far too small compared with the Chinese market. I should point out that it is difficult to boost lobster prices by local demand."
Mr Wei says the coronavirus epidemic is “very rare” and "an unexpected incident”.
Ms Cai hopes that the group purchase efforts will make the companies rethink their sales strategies, to consider the domestic market while making a profit from exports, and also to not “put all their eggs in one basket”.
"The lobster sellers are indeed shocked by the buying power our group has demonstrated.
“Their marketing teams said that in the future, they will consider selling new products, such as crab, to domestic markets as well.”
