With the continuous adjustment of the import tax rate, the import of goods with increasing civilian prices has become the new favorite of the public in recent years. Recently, the reporter learned from the inspection and quarantine department that Ningbo Inspection and Quarantine Bureau compiled a list of imported foods at Ningbo Port in 2017. From the list, seafood, meat, and alcohol rank top three in the list.

Seafood products topped the list

Although seafood is a daily table for our coastal cities, imported seafood is still expensive on this list. Of course, the imported seafood is naturally a seafood that is not available locally, such as bluefin tuna, Antarctic squid, king crab, black gold abalone and other high-end fresh aquatic products. Since Ningbo Airport was approved to import designated ports for chilled aquatic products, these “foreign aquatic products”, which could only be booked in advance in high-end restaurants or served at hotel buffets, have already “flyed into the homes of ordinary people”. Data show that in 2017, the value of imported aquatic products at Ningbo Port reached US$317 million, a year-on-year increase of 65.1% and an import volume of 97,000 tons.

From the perspective of imported species, fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish and other aquatic products are available. Among them, fish products are still ranked first with 59,000 tons of fish products, shrimp products are the first with 10,000 tons, and cephalopod products are 9530 tons. Ranked third.

Still prefer European and American meat

In 2017, the import volume of meat products reached 97,700 tons, and the value of goods reached US$201 million, up 60.9% and 56.4% respectively year-on-year. The total import volume reached a record high.

From the imported countries and regions, there are 21 countries and regions on four continents including Europe, North America, South America and Oceania. In terms of proportion, European and American meat products still top the list, of which US meat products accounted for nearly 80% of total imports.

In terms of product categories, pork and its by-products still account for the largest proportion, accounting for 95.21% of the total meat imports.

According to industry insiders, the import volume of meat at Ningbo Port continued to show explosive growth, mainly due to the low level of domestic animal husbandry intensive farming and high breeding costs. In addition, the perfect cold chain logistics conditions at Ningbo Port provided conditions for imported meat. It is understood that the import of Australian beef cattle slaughterhouses in Ningbo will start soon in 2018. It is believed that fresh Australian quality beef will soon be able to enter the public table better and faster.

Imported beverages are popular

In terms of imported drinks, alcohol products occupy the rankings. In 2017, the import of alcoholic products at Ningbo Port was US$196 million, up 44.1% year-on-year. Wine still accounted for the largest share, with a total import of US$155 million, a year-on-year increase of 70.3%. France, Australia, Spain, Chile and Italy were the main importers. However, the import of beer has declined. Last year, Ningbo Port imported a total of 39.21 million US dollars of beer, down 8.2% year-on-year.

In terms of beverages, thanks to the popularity of all kinds of online red drinks, the amount of imported beverages last year reached 34.41 million US dollars, with a growth rate close to 100%. For example, Japanese zero-degree cola, Indonesian blue cola, American cherry cola and other products are competing for imports.