China wants much more Chilean abalone
Sergio Galilea Ocón, Governor of the Lakes Region of Chile had the honour of receiving an official delegation of Chinese leaders from the province of Shandong, China’s most important region in the extraction of natural resources such as salt, gold, diamonds, and holds one of the world’s largest oil deposits – the Shengli. According to Aqua.cl, the Governor of the Shandong Province, Jia Wanzhi, spoke of the Shandong’s large demand for aquaculture products and of the potential for commercial development between southern Chile and the province of Shandong. “The geographic distance is not an obstacle for our economic alliance, in fact we continue working towards a closer commercial relationship, that should spread into other areas such as tourism, which has a great potential for both regions,” states Wanzhi. The Chilean aquaculture products that are of most interest for the Chinese are three species of abalone. Chile farm raises two species of non-native abalone, the red and the green abalone (from California and Japan respectively), and wild harvests a native species called the “loco”, which is not an abalone taxonomically but considered a delicacy in the abalone market. The loco is also in a pilot stage of aquaculture development. Chile currently ranks fifth in the world’s abalone production, followed by Australia, South Africa, Taiwan, and China (Number 1), and surpassing both the United States and Mexico.
