After the suspension of importing Japanese seafood: Japanese restaurants resell Cantonese cuisine, supermarkets sell one week's worth of seafood per day
After the General Administration of Customs suspended the import of Japanese seafood, major consumer enterprises responded quickly, such as restaurants controlling the origin of seafood supply, transitioning to selling Cantonese cuisine, and supermarkets experiencing a surge in seafood sales. Some tourism companies also revealed that some Japanese tourism teams have begun to withdraw.
On August 24th, according to the General Administration of Customs, in order to comprehensively prevent the radioactive pollution risk caused by the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea in Japan, protect the health of Chinese consumers, and ensure the safety of imported food, in accordance with the provisions of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China and its implementation regulations, the Measures for the Administration of Import and Export Food Safety of the People's Republic of China, as well as the provisions of the Agreement on the Implementation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the World Trade Organization, the General Administration of Customs has decided to suspend the import of aquatic products originating from Japan from August 24th, 2023.
On August 25th, the staff of "Wangding Exquisite Cuisine", a Japanese restaurant with an average consumption of 499 yuan per person, told First Financial that there were also customer feedback that on the evening of August 24th, a Japanese restaurant in Yangpu District, Shanghai had to wait for about half an hour to one hour. The salesperson said that there weren't as many people on weekdays evenings before, but there have been more people these past two nights. A Japanese restaurant located in Changning District, Shanghai, is mostly fully booked both indoors and outdoors, with the platform constantly flipping around 8 pm in the evening. Some guests come specifically to eat sashimi, and there are also dine in guests who specially pack sashimi.
In addition, Japanese restaurants have repeatedly issued announcements stating that their ingredients do not come from Japan. The poster released by Japanese brand "Kobayashi Sashimi" shows that the Arctic shellfish and peony shrimp in the store come from Canada, sweet shrimp from Russia, salmon from Norway, tuna from Australia, sea urchins, red shellfish, and scallops from Dalian. Previously, the "Mota Canteen" that operated Japanese cuisine even announced that it had recently sold Cantonese cuisine and would immediately cease using all Japanese ingredients.
In addition to the direct changes in Japanese restaurants, fresh seafood products in supermarket stores have also suddenly become popular. Yesterday, First Financial News reported a surge in sales of white shrimp on online platforms. Today, some supermarkets revealed to reporters that the General Administration of Customs suspended imports of Japanese seafood yesterday, leading to a significant increase in sales of frozen seafood in supermarkets. "The main focus is on frozen salmon, frozen silver cod, and frozen shrimp. Yesterday's sales volume was equivalent to the usual weekly data," a person in charge of a chain supermarket told a reporter from First Financial News.
Many supermarket stores have stated that salt, frozen seafood, and fresh seafood are all categories that require frequent restocking recently.
As everyone focuses on hot selling products such as seafood and salt, there is also a change in the consumption of spiritual pleasure. On August 25th, some tourism companies revealed to First Financial reporters that Japan is the latest destination to resume outbound team tours, and it is also a popular tourist destination for Chinese tourists. Therefore, after the resumption of outbound team tours, the registration situation for Japanese tours has been very good in the recent period. However, after the incident of Japan releasing nuclear contaminated water, some guests withdrew from the tours yesterday and today, which has had an impact on the sales of Japanese tours.
"We had already prepared a series of outbound travel posters and product promotions, but currently our promotion and marketing plans for Japanese tourism need to be slightly delayed, and we will also reduce the amount of marketing investment appropriately." A senior travel agency official who has been engaged in the tourism industry for more than 10 years told First Financial News.
Reliable Travel CEO Zhang Zhining believes that the coastal tourism economy centered around Fukushima in Japan may suffer setbacks. According to known data, after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, in the summer of 2022, the beach in Iwaki City, southeast of Fukushima Prefecture, received approximately 120000 visitors, compared to over 800000 before the accident. With the official discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea, it is expected that the number of people in seawater baths around Fukushima will further decrease. As the traditional "six elements" of tourism, "food" ranks first, and food safety issues will also attract attention. In addition, many cruise tourism routes are between Japan and South Korea, and according to the current situation, it will also have a certain degree of impact on the just recovering Japanese cruise tourism routes.
