Adrift in the tempest
By Neo Rong Wei, Alicia Teng & Theodore Lim
Giants like China have left Singapore vulnerable to supply-side threats due to globalisation. However, open waters might not be a bad thing — as long as we are able to turn the tide.
Over the past three decades, China’s seafood consumption has more than tripled. By 2020, each person is predicted to eat 36 kilogrammes of seafood a year.
An unlikely victim: chilli crab.
China’s spiking domestic demand for seafood — premium species like crab in particular — has set the country up to be a US$20 billion import market, as predicted in a Rabobank report titled “The Dragon’s Changing Appetite”.
However, domestic supply looks to be stonewalled, thanks to China’s environmental push in recent years.
In a bid to curb polluting industries, the Chinese government started a wave of aquaculture farm closures in 2018. This included seafood farms.
“China’s massive expansion of seafood production was achieved by ignoring its consequences on the environment,” said contributing editor Mark Godfrey, in an article for global seafood industry resource site Seafood Source that same year. “China is currently in compensation mode.”
Two-thirds of the world’s seafood supply is farmed in China, said the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, feeding concerns over how China’s green push would impact the global supply of farmed seafood.
With crabs and other crustaceans at the top of China’s seafood import pyramid — reflecting the nation’s penchant for whole, unprocessed seafood — China has turned to farms beyond its borders to feed its voracious appetite for shellfish.
Regional crab supplies from Vietnam and Bangladesh are being monopolised by Chinese importers, according to Undercurrent News.
“China is offering a better price than Singapore,” says Huat Kee Seafood Supplies owner Pang Khim Hua.
The 60-year-old adds that he used to import three to five tonnes of mud crab each day from Bangladesh, up till 2000. But now, he gets none from the country, as they are exporting their mud crabs to China instead.
Crabs are mainstays on the Chinese dining table. China’s love for the delicacy surges every autumn during hairy crab season — when locals go crazy for the crabs and their rich roe.
Their love for crabs goes back to the Ming Dynasty, when a set of eight tools
was created specifically to de-shell crab.
Pictured here is a set of such tools from the Shanghai History Museum — a mallet, board, tweezers, scoop, spoon, fork, scraper, and a needle.
Credits: Focus Today
Chilli crab seems to be next on their plate.
Having started as a simple seaside dish, crabs are now a status symbol on the dining table. Chilli crab is especially popular with customers holding business meetings, or when they host foreign guests, says No Signboard Geylang’s manager Ma Nu Yin.
The restaurant sees a lot of Chinese tourists in particular, especially during peak holiday periods. “China tourists are more willing to spend,” adds the 47-year-old.
Apart from China, seafood supplier Mr Pang also observed a greater demand for mud crabs from other Asian countries, which strains the already-stretched supply. He pegs the spike in demand to rising living standards, as Asian economies grow.
“They no longer just export their crabs. Nowadays, Jakarta also consumes a lot of crab,” says Mr Pang. “Indonesia used to export most of their crabs to Singapore in the past.”
This has caused global crab prices to climb in the past three years, he adds.
To snag a slice of the pie, regions like Sabah began to look into commercial breeding of giant mud crabs and succeeded in hatching 1.2 million crablets in December, reported the Borneo Post last year.
“The incentive will always be money,” CIMB economist Song Seng Wun, 60, says. “If there is a fat enough profit margin, you will certainly be working to increase supply,”
In a globalised world, Mr Song feels that dwindling supply could push Singapore towards further research and development (R&D) for crab breeding — in spite of our lack of natural resources.
In line with how China is meeting growing domestic demand with more imports, Singapore is pressed to find its own solutions.
“Chilli crab costs more now, due to market forces,” says Mr Song. “Unless technology can intervene and deliver a cheaper alternative.”
For the time being, breeding crabs fit for consumption might be difficult. However, innovations in packing and transport could help to bring the price down. For a country strong in R&D, this is a plausible way out — as well as a golden opportunity to turn demand in its favour.
“One day, technology could reach the level for that to happen,” adds Mr Song. “That creates new opportunities and new markets beyond.”
Common Crab Species
Flower Crab
Also known as blue swimmer crabs, these often appear on menus as “soft shelled crab”. In recent years, more mid-range and high-end dining establishments have prized high quality flower crabs for their delicate sweet meat and sustainability.
Dungeness Crab
Named after its habitat in Washington — this crab is a favourite all throughout North America’s west coast. With a mild brininess and a subtle nutty flavour, the dungeness crab is also a staple on Jumbo Seafood’s menu.
King Crab
Found in the cold waters of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean, the deep-sea crab is notoriously hard to catch. Its leg meat is considered to be one of the sweetest amongst crab species, making it a highly prized — and priced — species.
Brown Crab
Found in the North Atlantic Ocean, this reddish-brown crab is popular across Europe. The texture and taste of its dense flesh is often compared to lobster meat. Best enjoyed freshly boiled, with white toast, mayonnaise and a generous squeeze of lemon.
Giant Mud Crab
Though widely known as the “Sri Lankan crab”, this crab now comes from Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Africa’s east coast. Its snow-white meat boasts a plumpness that makes it the first choice of many seafood restaurants. Mud crab can be cooked with a variety of sauces and spices — from creamy salted egg yolk to the iconic spicy-sweet chilli crab.
Spanner Crab
A regional speciality in the Philippines — where it is called curacha — this crab shines in coconut milk-based sauces and stews. Spanner crab meat has a sweet, clean flavor with a firmer texture compared to mud crab.