During the period, China topped an FAO ranking of seafood exporters by posting average annual growth of 11.1 percent.

In 2004, China exported seafood to the tune of $6.6 billion (€4.5 billion). A decade earlier the country only shipped $2.3 billion (€1.6 billion) worth of seafood.

An FAO report said China’s growth was due to a combination of increased national production and increased foreign imports for processing and re- exports. Low production and labor costs are attractive to foreign processing companies.

In 1990, China imported seafood worth $200 million (€139.2