‘This industry is not sustainable’: A further 30% of Chinese processing plants could go bust in the next 5 years

Another 20 to 30 percent of Chinese whitefish processing plants will likely go out of business in the next five years as the sector continues to battle with COVID-19 lockdowns, less raw material and higher costs, warned Jerry Chang, president of Chang International, a major whitefish processor in Qingdao, China.

“That's not good news for the industry,” said Chang speaking at the recent North Atlantic Seafood Forum.

Over the past three years, both China’s imports and exports of whitefish have been declining, impacted first by the COVID-19 pandemic and now by Russia’s war in Ukraine.