Seafood businesses are hurting as the coronavirus shuts cafes and restaurants, wreaks havoc with supply chains.
“There’s less demand for seafood now, fewer consumers,” said Mongkol Sukcharoenkana, chairman of the National Fisheries Association of Thailand. “People see it as a discretionary product.”In Australia, the Sydney Fish Market, one of the world’s largest, was quiet over Easter when it’s usually full of tourists and locals.
To ease the pressure, the government’s helping charter planes to carry rock lobster and other products to foreign markets.In Japan, empty restaurants and hotels and the absence of tourists have hit demand for more expensive seafood items such as sea urchins and crabs, and in Hokkaido, some suppliers are even holding emergency sales of unwanted catch.
Thai Union also has a stake in US seafood restaurant chain Red Lobster, where sales revenue is expected to tumble as a result of the outbreak, according to a note from the bank.