Ranked second nationwide! Thousands of tons of South American salmon 'swim' from Chengdu to the whole country

On November 4th, a large number of Chilean salmon suppliers arrived in Chengdu, crossing half the globe. Their destination is the Western Fresh Port located in Shuangliu. Here, the largest salmon intelligent processing plant in China has started trial operation.

Salmon suppliers from Chile gather in Chengdu

With the opening of the first all cargo direct fresh food route from Chengdu to South America, in just over a year, the amount of Chilean salmon entering from Chengdu has rapidly increased from very few to tens of thousands of tons. This is precisely the key reason that attracted these Chilean businessmen to come to Chengdu this time.

At present, inland Chengdu is doing a great job in "sea business". According to data from Chengdu Customs, in the first three quarters of this year, the scale of South American salmon imported from Chengdu ranked second among all air ports in China, second only to Shanghai Pudong.

The volume of South American salmon imported from Chengdu ranks second among all air ports in China

When the supply is large, the price can naturally be 'lowered'. The cost price of Chilean salmon is 10% -15% cheaper than Norwegian salmon, which can also be reflected in the consumer end. "As the operator of the Western Fresh Port, Ma Xinlong, Deputy General Manager of China Eastern Airlines Cold Chain Logistics Co., Ltd., told reporters that with the large influx of Chilean salmon into the Chinese market from Chengdu Port, the" salmon freedom "wish of" delicious eaters "has become easier to achieve!

The import volume has surged

Thousands of tons of South American salmon 'swim' into Chengdu

In fact, Chilean salmon has only become a regular customer in Chengdu since last year.

In May 2023, the first all cargo direct fresh food route from South America to China, from Santiago, Chile to Chengdu, China, will officially depart. Within approximately 30 to 35 hours of flight, fresh products from South America can directly reach the Chengdu port and quickly enter the dining tables of ordinary people.

With this all cargo shipping route, a continuous stream of Chilean salmon enters the Chinese market through the Chengdu port. In just over a year, with 300 tons per week and 1200 tons per month, the cumulative import volume has exceeded 10000 tons.

In fact, Norwegian salmon still dominates the entire Chinese market. Chilean salmon is a new product with a relatively low proportion, "Ma Xinlong told reporters." The southern hemisphere is on the other side of the world, with long shipping routes. Previously, due to the lack of stable cargo routes, it has not been able to enter the Chinese market on a large scale. Nowadays, thanks to new routes, the import volume of Chilean salmon with higher cost-effectiveness is rapidly increasing.

According to data from Chengdu Customs in the first three quarters of this year, the import volume of salmon from South America has soared to the second highest in the country. From the perspective of global salmon imports, Chengdu's performance is still impressive, ranking fourth in the country after Pudong, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen ports.

The largest domestic scale

The daily production capacity of the newly built intelligent processing plant can reach 25 tons

After the introduction of "quantity", the Western Fresh Port began to consider the issue of "high added value".

The salmon intelligent processing plant, which is being piloted at the Western Fresh Port, quickly sorts, cuts, packages, and transports whole salmon to major supermarkets across the country, delivering them to consumers.

Our processing equipment comes from Iceland and can reduce labor costs by 50%, "Liu Qiu, the general manager of Meiyan Ocean Food Co., Ltd., the operator of the smart factory, told reporters. They also built a salmon processing plant in Shuangliu in 2020, with a daily production capacity of only 4 tons. The new factory now adopts more intelligent devices, and the daily production capacity has been increased to 25 tons.

It is reported that the salmon intelligent processing plant is one of the core bases of China Eastern Airlines' cold chain layout in the fresh food industry in China. The processing plant has a construction area of 5600 square meters and three automated assembly lines. It is the largest salmon processing center in China with the most complete industrial chain and first-class processing capacity. After the completion of the project, it will mainly serve the local Chengdu and Yunnan Guizhou Sichuan Shaanxi regions, and rely on China Eastern Airlines' route network to achieve rapid coverage of markets in other regions across the country.

Ma Xinlong stated that processed salmon has a higher added value and can be quickly distributed to major cities in China or transferred to Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, and other places for imported fresh or preliminarily processed fresh goods.

Faster and cheaper

Growth of 64.4%! Fresh seafood import data shows strong performance

More and more high-quality imported fresh seafood products are entering Chengdu and entering the national market.

Data is the most persuasive. According to data from Chengdu Customs, in the first three quarters of this year, Chengdu Air Port achieved an import and export value of 449.72 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.3%. Its import and export scale is second only to Shanghai and Beijing Air Ports, ranking first among air ports in central and western China and third among air ports in China. Among them, the total import and export value of Shuangliu District's foreign trade was 89.9 billion yuan, an increase of 17.3%. Among numerous categories, the data for fresh seafood products is the most impressive, with a growth rate of 64.4%; Mechanical and electrical products increased by 16.7%.

The general public can also enjoy higher quality imported products at lower prices, "Ma Xinlong told reporters. With the diversification of imported products, consumers have more choices. Compared to Norwegian salmon, Chilean salmon has lower costs and its price advantage can also be transmitted to the consumer end.

In addition, in order to bring imported frozen products to people's dining tables faster, Chengdu Customs is also racing against time and constantly innovating models. This year, Shuangliu Airport Port officially opened the air to air transfer service of "international and domestic direct transfer" without leaving the air side. Under the optimized supervision mode of "import airside transfer", not only does it save 3-5 hours of air transfer operation time, but enterprises can also flexibly choose subsequent flights for transfer, improve transportation efficiency, reduce cargo damage risks, and lower enterprise costs.