China suddenly purchases Hongguo white shrimp in August, but it is still difficult to shake the Taiwan market

◎ Lin

China's sudden increase in purchases in August is still difficult to shake the Taiwan market

After Honduras established diplomatic relations with China, the outside world expected that the Chinese market would drive local white shrimp exports, but actual data shows that China's procurement volume is still lower than Taiwan. Hongguo's "El Heraldo" quoted statistics from the Farmers Association (ANDAH). From January to August this year, Hong Kong's farmed shrimp exports were 44,974,950 pounds, of which Taiwan purchased 3,308,690 pounds and China only 931,429 pounds. Taiwan's purchase volume was approximately 3.55 times that of China.

The gap was even bigger in the first seven months, and China suddenly increased its sales volume in August

Data show that in the first seven months of this year, China only purchased about 147,000 pounds, while Taiwan had purchased 2.99 million pounds in the same period, a gap of more than 20 times. Until August, China's monthly purchases increased by about 784,000 pounds, bringing the cumulative volume to 930,000 pounds. Although China's procurement has increased significantly, it has not caught up with Taiwan as of the end of August, indicating that the Chinese market is still difficult to replace Taiwan's original procurement scale.

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Hongguo shrimp industry faces pressure and hopes to expand more export markets

The Hongguo shrimp industry has been affected by factors such as market, cost and export conditions in recent years, and the industry continues to seek new markets. ANDAH pointed out that one of the main constraints in the Chinese market is price factors, and production, transportation and energy costs have also increased export pressure. In August, the Hong Kong Congress established a working mechanism to discuss assisting the southern shrimp industry to improve its industrial predicament.

Market changes after the severance of diplomatic relations: Taiwan procurement still has a certain weight

After Honduras severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 2023 and established diplomatic relations with China, although Taiwan's purchase of white shrimp from Honduras declined due to the impact of tariffs, it still purchased 2,565,317 pounds in the first half of 2026, which was significantly higher than China's 147,000 pounds in the same period. Hongguo's industrial data also shows that price competitiveness is an important limitation to China's market expansion.

overall

China did significantly increase its purchases of Hongguo white shrimps in August, but the cumulative data from January to August shows that Taiwan’s purchases are still about 3.55 times that of China. Relevant data reflect that after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Hong Kong and China, the Chinese market has not completely replaced Taiwan's original white shrimp export market; if China continues to expand procurement, whether it can be transformed into stable and large-scale market demand remains to be seen with follow-up data.

(The author is a graduate student, researching related aspects in mainland China)