Feature (1): Thai prawns sell well in Yunnan market

It was 10:30 am, August 8. At a bustling seafood market in downtown Kunming, capital city of Yunnan Province, various fishes, prawns and crabs were on display in rows of stores.

At the Aoning seafood store, the shrimps that have just been delivered to the store from Thailand were moving lively in the water tanks. “The prawns came from Phuket, and the iced packages are still there, you see,” said the shop owner. Minutes later, several kilograms of Thai prawns were sold.

Zhong Guobian, a staff member with the Kunming Xinxin Seafood Import Company, delivered the Thai prawns. He will soon finish delivering shrimps to other stores in the market. “Yesterday morning, the prawns still lived in the waters near Phuket, Thailand.” Zhong said the mature trading chain fulfilled the 2,000 km Thailand-China journey within one day.

By noon that day, Zhong Guobian had collected orders of Thai prawns by shop owners in the market, and called his business partners in Phuket to tell the quantity of prawns for the following day. Founded in the 1990s, Zhong’s company is one of the Yunnan companies importing seafood from Thailand.

After receiving the orders from Yunnan, the Phuket fishermen will began catching prawns at around 4 pm, according to Zhong. Aquatic farms in different sizes lie around the Phuket island, where prawns can grow up within two or three months thanks to the favorable climate.

The caught prawns first take a “water-tank” truck ride to the packing yard within a few hours. To maximize the freshness and survival rate of the prawns, the workers pack up the prawns and inject oxygen into the package 2 hours before the flight takes off. They also put ice in the box.

After packing, the Thai prawns board a flight from Phuket to Kunming. Usually they reach Kunming at around 8 am Beijing time on the following day. At Kunming Airport, officers have prepared in advance for customs clearance, inspection and quarantine. 

On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Saturdays, Zhong Guobian gets to the airport in advance to pick up the Thai prawns and send them to various seafood markets in Kunming.

“In the past five years, our imported volume of Thai prawns has doubled, reaching a daily quantity of 1000 kilograms.” Zhong Guobian said, adding his company also began to import crabs from Bangladesh and Myanmar.

“As of now, our seafood supply covers a number of markets in Kunming, Qujing and Yuxi. Thai prawns are in high demand, and every evening there is not a single shrimp left.”He said China has become top consumer market for Thai prawns. In winter, most shrimps in the Chinese market come from Thailand.

To reach consumers in remote areas, the Xinxin seafood company started Thai frozen-shrimp business a few years ago. “The consumers who don’t have time to go to the seafood market often order on WeChat, and I send them frozen-prawns via SF express delivery service.”

In recent years, the Chinese market has seen upgrades, and the consumer's needs become increasingly diverse. “People used to take the prawns as expensive and could not afford them, but now more and more Yunnan folks began to order diverse seafood.” Kou Ying, owner of the Aoning store in Kunming, said citizens living standards improved.

“The salmon, the king crab, and the Boston lobster are now popular among locals.” Kou Ying shared the received order files on her smart phone, where aquatic products from Thailand, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and others are listed endlessly.

Reporting by Su Churan and Han Chengyuan; trans-editing by Wang Shixue