Market and Trade Routes
The center for the Live Food Fish Trade is located in Hong Kong -- the markets consumers contribute $400 million to the estimated $1 billion of the trades global value (Seaweb). Total imports flowing into Hong Kong included 10153 metric tons, of which 30 percent was re-exported to mainland China (Montaldi). Other major markets include Singapore, mainland China, and Taiwan (Graham). The primary suppliers of wild caught fish are Indonesia (accounting for nearly 50 percent of Hong Kong's imports), Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, and Vietnam (Graham). However, Taiwan and Malaysia are leading the charge towards farmed live fish specializing in an industry that "harvested annually has probably been in the billions (Graham)." Farming live fish is gaining popularity as tastes for live fish are burgeoning across South Asia and countries look to become more and more self sustainable, this is appareant in nations with sizable Chinese populations such as Indonesia and Malaysia.
Hong Kong and China are the dominant markets for the live fish, in addition to other cities in the region that have large Chinese populations, including Singapore and Kuala Lumpur(BusinessWorld Nov. 1999). In Southeast Asia, Singapore alone consumes 500 tons of live coral fish a year(ibid). Exports from Southeast Asia rose to over 5,000 tons in 1995 from 400 tons in 1989(ibid). However, in 1996, exports declined by 22%(ibid). Indonesia, which accounts for over 60% of the harvest, saw exports falling by over 450 tons(ibid). That same year, other Southeast Asian countries have experienced similar drops in stocks of live coral fish for food(ibid). In 1996, the Philippines' exports were halved, while Malaysian exports declined by over 30%(ibid). These decreases in catch have been due to the excessive amount of fish caught for exports and the degradation of the coral reefs from such procedures.
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