Starfish seems well located, opposite the embassy of Canada, a favorite emigration destination among China’s wealthy. Business is brisk for the co-owners, Herbert and his Taiwanese-American partner Alisha Bailey. The duo has oysters flown in from Seattle once a week. Most of the oysters come from the Oregon oyster farm of Liu Xin, who’s originally from Qingdao, the Chinese seafood processing hub. Liu’s other customers in China include local restaurants offering oysters as a premium ingredient in hot pot, a popular style of communal dining, especially in northern China.
On its busiest day since opening in October, Starfish served up 15 oyster varieties from five countries, and the restaurant has lately started offering South African oysters. French balans-type oysters sell at RMB 100 per piece, compared to RMB 30 for each Oregon house oyster and RMB 45 per piece for kumamoto oysters.
Eating raw oysters is a relatively new concept to China, explained Herbert, “though sushi has caught on in first tier and southern coast cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou.” He and Bailey target younger Chinese consumers open to Western culture and raw seafood. Affluence helps, too. Air freight as well as a 13 percent import duty and 17 percent VAT means Starfish has to charge twice what Seattle restaurants charge. Herbert said Starfish is forced to charge at least double New York prices for Oregon’s Yaquina Bay, Starfish’s “house” oyster.
China is the world’s top producer of oysters, but local supply tends to be bland partly because of water challenges — 80 percent of local waterways are, after all, polluted to some degree by government estimations. The bulk of Chinese output is used in oyster sauce, a condiment for Chinese cooking, as well as smoked oysters and sub-premium tinned product sold on supermarket shelves.
Just as oysters have become part of bar culture among a trendy young U.S. and Canadian set, oyster shots at midnight have become de rigeur for revelers on the Hong Kong Lung Kwai Fok bar strip, said Herbert. “Things catch on in Hong Kong and then spread to Beijing and Shanghai,” he explained.
Aside from oysters, Starfish’s most popular dishes include scallops and flounder as well as Maryland blue crab. Starfish’s only local inputs are crabs for crab cakes. The seafood import firm Herbert runs, Jetfresh, had considered importing salmon or lobster but felt the market was already crowded with the likes of Canada’s Clearwater Seafoods and Norway’s salmon producers. Also there are lower mortality rates in shipments of oysters compared to lobsters. Herbert has also been attracted by the relative affordability of entry to oyster culture compared to lobsters, “for which you need RMB 500 to experience whereas you can try a selection of oysters for about RMB 180.”
Aside from building Starfish’s business, Herbert and Bailey want to hire local sales staff to drive its distribution business. The duo believes there’s a niche for a supplier like Starfish/Jetfresh, which can offer good service and traceability. Local chefs, said Herbert and Bailey, are frustrated that local distributors offer little choice compared to their Western counterparts, who seek to anticipate chefs needs while also offering new products. “They’re not customer driven,” they said.
Also, explained Herbert, local suppliers tend to mix oysters in large pools and are unable to specify where the oysters originated. There’s also little appreciation of the regional distinctions in U.S. oysters. Traceability is the reason why Starfish doesn’t engage local suppliers. Bailey said it’s tempting to go to local markets to restock, but the difficulty in tracing product there makes it too risky. “We vetoed that idea pretty quick,” she said.
Bailey said Chinese consumers are brand conscious, and Gillardeaux oysters have become synonymous with premium in the same way that Bordeaux-based Lafitte has become a local byword for high-end wine in China. Three oyster condos on the window, running water, draw the attention of passersby and thus generates business. Herbert said large storage areas are unnecessary given that demand means oysters can be sold as fast as they arrive. Herbert is satisfied that most Starfish customers have revisited at least once. A particularly good customer is a Taiwanese businessman who entertains local business partners at Starfish. Another local businessman and his wife have become regulars.
“They order two dozen oysters each visit,” said Hebert.
Having identified its weakness in 2023, entering the first quarter of 2024, Vietnam's shrimp industry has undergone a clear change, reflected through increases in exports to major markets.
It is necessary to develop more detailed and consistent regulations on seafood production for export in line with the implementation of solutions towards sustainable and responsible fishing practices.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) After increasing to the highest level in 2022, Canada's tuna imports in 2023 dropped to the lowest level in the past 10 years, reaching 35 thousand tons, down 24% over the year. Canada is currently one of the 15 largest tuna import markets in the world.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Chile, one of the countries participating in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), has tended to increase tuna imports from Vietnam in the past 3 years. According to statistics from Vietnam Customs, this South American country imported nearly 3 million USD of tuna products from Vietnam in the first 2 months of 2024, an increase of 58% over the same period in 2023.
Economic and social development activities, overexploitation, pollution, diseases, and climate change have adversely affected the ecological environment, leading to a severe decline or the extinction of many precious indigenous aquatic species.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The prices of pangasius fingerlings and raw pangasius in ponds fell in March, following steady increases in the first two months of this year.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In February 2024, the average export price of Vietnamese pangasius to markets increased by 4%, although the volume decreased by 40% compared to the previous month.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) There was a 6% decline in Vietnam's pangasius exports to Brazil in February 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, with the total value reaching 6 million USD.
(vasep.com.vn) In the first two months of 2024, Poland—which ranks as Vietnam's fourth-largest EU supplier of tuna—became a noteworthy market. Vietnam's tuna exports value to Poland increased by 786% in comparison to the same period last year, totaling over $2 million USD and contributing about 2% of the country's overall tuna exports revenue.
Regulations on the protection and sustainable development of aquatic resources, Việt Nam's legitimate rights at sea in accordance with international law and the achievements that the country has carved out to remove the European Union’s “yellow card” will be brought closer to local people.
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