The Mid-Autumn Festival is a day of reunion for all families. On the table of Tianjin citizens, all kinds of seafood are indispensable delicacies. Right now, it's a good time to taste "fresh". As a coastal city, Tianjin has abundant marine resources and a strong seafood catering culture.
Since the opening of the sea on September 1, batches of seasonal seafood have been freshly marketed, and the sales season of the year has also ushered in.
At the fishing port wharf, fishermen who go out to sea late at night hope to sell the freshly caught seafood at a good price; In the aquatic products wholesale market, the wholesalers are busy until about 9 a.m. the next day; In the seafood supermarkets and seafood stalls in the vegetable market, many merchants also bring goods through live broadcasts to send local seafood from Tianjin to all parts of the country; At seafood restaurants, in order to meet the peak of festive customer flow, the stock volume has also increased significantly compared to the past.
From the vast deep sea to the people's table, the seafood supply chain is running in an orderly manner.
Marina Fish Market
Buy seafood to "watch the tide and see the sky"
The "sharp goods" were ordered out before they landed
Delicious crabs, lively prawns, fresh cuttlefish...... In order to taste the "freshness" of the season after the opening of the sea, many citizens grabbed the "freshness" and made the wharves along the coast of our city lively. How is the fresh fish tasting this year? What is the price trend? Recently, the reporter drove to the wharf fish market in Binhai New Area of our city to explore the market situation since the opening of the sea.
At 12 noon on September 13, the reporter came to the Red Star Wharf located on Donghai Road in Binhai New Area, and there was a wharf fish market across the wall. At this time, there were already more than a dozen citizens standing at the door waiting to buy seafood.
"It's all experienced buyers. There is a strong wind at sea this afternoon, and the fishing boats may return to port early, and they are here to pick up the first shipment. Mr. Gu, the person in charge of the wharf management, said with a smile that there is no fixed time for the wharf fish market, and the fishing boats will be sold as they arrive, and savvy buyers will "watch the tide and see the sky". "If it's late, there may be no good goods." He said.
At 1 o'clock in the afternoon, with the roar of fishing boats in the distance, the dock fish market suddenly became lively. The fish merchants and men who had been chatting together in twos and threes picked up the white baskets that had been prepared and rushed to the gap in the iron fence of the wharf. The boat was on the shore, not yet stable, and the sturdy man put on his rain boots and jumped onto the boat.
Fishermen fill the baskets one by one on the boat, and everyone then relays them to carry them ashore. Those who go through wholesale channels, after simple sorting and weighing, are quickly loaded and left the port, and directly transported to the major seafood markets or restaurants in our city; For on-site retail, it is sold directly in the aisle between two cars in the dock parking lot.
Prices vary from day to day at the dock fish market, all of which are based on the market demand and the amount of goods loaded on that day.
"Crabs are 100 yuan and 3 catties, small ink buckets are 25 yuan and 1 catty, and conch is 15 yuan and 1 catty,...... said fisherman. "Except for old customers who book, we usually sell directly, and the price is about the same as last year, and it can be sold out in 2 hours." He said.
However, some fish traders have fed back to reporters that this year's wholesale prices have increased compared with last year.
"In fact, it hasn't risen much, and the average wholesale price of fresh fish per catty has increased by 2 yuan." Captain Chen of the 03001 ship pointed to the algae on the shore and said that this year's temperature is high, the amount of fish is less than in previous years, and the labor cost is expensive, so the wholesale price will definitely rise.
It is understood that the fish market at the wharf is mainly small-horsepower boats fishing in the offshore waters, and the cost of going to sea every day is at least several thousand yuan. Among them, the fuel cost for half a day is more than 1,000 yuan, and the crew's salary is 500 yuan per person. In September, fishing boats go out to sea for about 10 nautical miles. But in October, as the weather cools, fish may have to move to the open sea, fishing boats will have to travel farther, and the corresponding cost of going to sea will be higher.
Although the shipments of the wharf fish market have declined this year, there are also many "sharp goods". Two palm-sized crabs, a sole more than half a meter long, and a cuttlefish with a slight hoarfrost...... However, if you want to buy these fresh fish, consumers have to be a little patient.
Tianjin people pay attention to "one flat, two fast and three sole" when eating fish, saying that 1 kg of flat fish, 2 kg of fast fish and 3 kg of sole are the best. But wild, 1 catty and 1 flat fish are not easy to find.
The reporter met Mr. Liu, who came to load the goods at the wharf fish market, and he was about to take away 8 small boxes of flat fish, all of which were 1 catty and 1 piece. Many people next to me asked, what is the price of this box of fish? "Still asking for a price? It would be nice to have it. Mr. Liu told everyone that he had placed an order in advance, and only two boats had come up with such a few boxes today.
At this stage, there are two main types of crabs sold in the Beitang Wharf Fish Market, one is the "flower cover" with a light gray color of the crab cover, and the size of the palm is 100 yuan and 3 catties; One is the red armor red with the color of the crab cover is brown or purple, which is commonly known as "sea red" by Tianjin people, which is large and full, about 50 yuan and 1 catty.
How can I buy these "sharp goods" at the dock fish market? According to the locals, the "sharp goods" generally do not get off the boat easily, usually when the buyer arrives at the side of the ship, the fishermen move it to the shore to inspect the goods, and then everyone can seize the time to get over the fun. But the dock fish market usually ends at 5 p.m., as the fishermen head out to sea in the early hours of the next morning. If you encounter a temporary repentance from the owner of the goods, or there are few tourists at the fish market that day, then your opportunity to "pick up the leak" is here.
Supermarket stalls
Daily sales more than doubled
Pre-holiday prices generally rose by 10% to 15%
Salt prawns, giant river prawns, crabs...... Just after 8 a.m. on September 12, the Lao Wang Aquatic Products stall in the Dazhigu Vegetable Market was full of customers. Wang Zhi, the stall owner, has 5 stalls in this vegetable market, and business is good before and after the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the daily sales exceed 20,000 yuan, an increase of more than 2 times compared with usual.
"I came over at half past six this morning, and I just picked up more than 7,000 yuan of goods for an old customer." He said that since the opening of the sea, the variety of seafood on the stalls has increased from more than 30 to more than 70. Among them, local fish, shrimp and crab sold well, "local shrimp alone sold more than 200 catties in one day yesterday." A large prawn of more than 20 yuan was sold out in less than 2 hours today. ”
In response to the seafood procurement boom before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Wang Zhi increased the amount of stock. "I went to Wangding Dike at 12 midnight every day to load the goods, and today I got 2,000 catties, two or three times more than usual." According to him, seafood has a price a day. On the day of the interview on September 12, Pipi shrimp was 58 yuan per catty, 10 yuan more expensive than the previous day; When the sea first opened, sea crabs were more than 70 yuan per catty, and they rose to more than 100 yuan on the same day; When the local shrimp first opened the sea, it was more than 30 yuan per catty, and it exceeded 40 yuan on the same day.
"A few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the price of seafood has generally increased by 10 to 15 percent compared to before." On September 13, the reporter came to the round aquatic products stall located in the Nandaqiao vegetable market, and the stall owner Lu Shuqi told reporters that his stall has more than 20 varieties of marine fish, shrimp, crabs, etc., of which local seafood accounts for more than 60%.
He picked up a crab and said to reporters: "The hardness of the shell and the weight of the crab on the hand are the more elastic and heavy the shell on both sides of the back, the better." As long as the shell is white, the sides of the navel tip are red, and the activity is good, the river crab is generally not too thin. ”
The reporter noticed that two staff members were packing some crabs. "In addition to individual customers, there are also a lot of corporate group purchases these days. I packed more than 100 boxes from 5:30 to 10:30 in the morning. A staff member said.
During the interview, Lu Shuqi's WeChat has been receiving messages, all of which are consulting seafood. He said that the city's seafood breeding cycle is long, the fish is fresh and tender, and the crabs are plump, which are well received by customers. In recent days, the daily sales of his stall have doubled compared to usual. "Yesterday, there were more than 800 orders, and more than 3,000 catties of fish, shrimp and crab were sold. Today, there are more than 2,000 catties of goods, and it is estimated that there will be nothing left until 6 o'clock in the evening. He said.
Zhai Xuelei, the person in charge of the Nandaqiao vegetable market, told reporters that there are 18 aquatic products merchants in the market, and the merchants are particularly busy before and after the Mid-Autumn Festival. "Some merchants come over at 2 o'clock in the middle of the night to unload and pack." According to him, the daily traffic of the market has increased recently, sometimes reaching more than 10,000 people, which is twice as many as usual.
"It's the busiest time of the year every year, and local products are the best-sellers." He Xiuling, a stall owner in Tongxuan Aquatic Products at Xinli Vegetable Market, who has been selling seafood for 35 years, said that many regular customers have come to book and buy seafood in the past few days, and the restaurant has also placed more seafood orders.
The market has been in operation for 7 years and has 16 aquatic products merchants. In addition to Ho Sau-ling's stall, other aquatic stalls also have many customers. A customer who stopped in front of Xingda's aquatic products stall said: "There are obviously more varieties of seafood. ”
"In the past, the market had more than 3,000 daily visitors on weekends, but in recent days, there have been more daily visitors than on weekends." Zhao Yuexia, the person in charge of the Xinli vegetable market, said.
In addition to the offline stalls in the vegetable market ushering in the peak season of seafood sales, the live broadcast room of online seafood sales is also lively. Every morning at 6 o'clock, Ms. Liu, the manager of Xiantianxia Seafood Supermarket, began to live broadcast and bring goods. There are more than 10 kinds of seafood in her offline physical store, and the most sold in the online live broadcast room is crab.
Cover the pocket, add ice, oxygen, pack...... Outside the store, five or six staff members are packing and shipping non-stop. "Recently, more than 7,000 catties have been loaded every day, and they have all been sold out on the same day. Among them, more than 70% of the sales were brought through live streaming. Ms. Liu told reporters that recently relatives and friends gave gifts, the company group purchase more, the store is generally from 6 o'clock in the morning to noon, a morning can send more than 2,000 boxes of express delivery, "the current live broadcast of orders can be sent to most parts of the country, of which Tianjin customers account for about seventy, generally in the morning, in the afternoon." The farther areas will be transported by SF Express, and it will arrive in two days at the latest. ”
Wholesale market
There are hundreds of varieties sold
The single-day shipment volume is about 400,000 catties
At about 4 o'clock in the morning on September 14, Brother Sun stood next to the toll booth of the Wangdingdi Aquatic Products Wholesale Market, looking at his own liberation cars full of joy.
Wangdingdi Aquatic Products Wholesale Market is located in Xiqing District, which is the largest aquatic product distribution center in our city, with hundreds of sales varieties and radiating the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Brother Sun runs a shop of more than 50 square meters in the market, specializing in sea crabs. Despite the small size of the store, the daily sales are very impressive.
When the last batch of sea crabs of the day was almost sold out, Brother Sun was free to give an interview: "We have been open since 12 midnight, and since then, we have been shipping goods to the market one after another. This is the 12th car I shipped today, each car pulls more than 8,000 catties of sea crabs, a total of about 100,000 catties, and now there is still this left, it is estimated that it will be sold out at about 7 o'clock. "While watching the sea crabs pass the scales, he held a pen and a notebook to keep accounts, and when he was talking to reporters, he had to deal with the guy's inquiry." The price of sea goods is one day and is mainly determined by the quantity of supply. For example, during typhoon weather, it is impossible to go out to sea to fish, and the price is very high due to the small quantity. He said.
"It's so busy before the Mid-Autumn Festival!" The sky is dawning, and the autumn morning is already cool, but Brother Sun is still busy and sweating, "We are the busiest time every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Spring Festival. At this time, there are all kinds of fish on the market, and fish, shrimp, and crab are also fat, so it is a good time to eat seafood. ”
According to him, during the fishing moratorium, the store will sell southern farmed crabs; After the opening of the sea, the crabs in the store mainly come from the Tohoku region, "I order them the night before, and they usually arrive the next day." ”
At the Cape of Good Hope Fish Shop, the seafood pool is filled with high-end seafood ingredients such as Boston lobster, king crab, abalone, and more. Dai Jinhua, the person in charge of the store, told reporters that the store is open from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. the next day. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the sales volume in the store was particularly good, selling about 2 tons a day and selling about 400,000 yuan, which was two or three times that of normal days. "Basically, you come and sell on the same day, you can't keep it, and it's easy to wear out." He said.
Sun Biao, manager of the Wangdingdi Aquatic Products Wholesale Market, was on duty that day. According to him, the market covers an area of about 70,000 square meters and houses five or six hundred merchants.
"Every year in May and June, most of the merchants in the market mainly sell some farmed shellfish and shrimp; In July and August, some sea areas will be opened one after another, and some fish will be added; After the full opening in September, there are a lot of shrimp and sea crabs sold in the market. Sun Biao told reporters that every year from September to the Spring Festival is the peak season for seafood sales, among them, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the first 10 days of the Spring Festival is the busiest, "just like these days, the market ships about 400,000 catties per day, mainly for restaurants, vegetable markets, supermarkets, etc., there are also a small part of retail, the market daily sales of tens of millions of yuan." ”
According to reports, at 11 o'clock every night, the merchants in the market are open one after another. Each merchant has at least one fixed parking space for delivery vehicles. There is a row of toll booths at the gate of the market, and the floor of each row of lanes is installed with a weighbridge, and the vehicles are automatically weighed, and when they drive to the toll booth, the toll collector will calculate the cost according to the type and weight of the goods transported. Admission fees range from 10 yuan to 1,000 yuan per vehicle.
"Small empty cars are cheaper, and they usually go in and pick up the goods; Large trucks will be expensive, they will usually park their cars in the parking space, wait for the contents of the car to be sold out before going out, if fast, two or three hours can be sold. In addition, the products transported on the car are different, and the charges are also different, for example, the price of sea crab is higher than that of fish, shrimp, and shellfish. "Wholesalers in the market are usually open late at night until around 9 a.m. the next day. Some of the shops are retail-related, and you have to be watched by a guy during the day. ”
Seafood restaurant
Some stores have doubled their stock during the Mid-Autumn Festival
The purchase price of pipi shrimp has dropped by about 20%.
At 9 a.m. on September 15, the staff of the Must-order Seafood Binjiang Road store began to get busy. In order to meet the peak of customers on the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the store located in the Jinjie business district of Heping District more than doubled the amount of seafood stocked that day. "Usually, the average daily seafood consumption of our store is about 300 catties; During holidays such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, the consumption of seafood in a single day exceeds 600 catties. Shi Lei, manager of the Binjiang Road store of Bidian Seafood, told reporters that the store officially opened in November 2018 and specializes in seafood, stir-fried vegetables and dumplings.
Evenings are an important time for many restaurants to generate revenue. "We have more than 60 kinds of dishes, such as spicy drunken eight immortals, must-order oyster flavor, spicy fried abalone, etc. Half of them are seafood. Since the beginning of this year, the unit price of customers has remained at about 150 yuan. According to Shi Lei, the must-order seafood Binjiang Road store covers two consumption periods: noon and evening. Among them, the operating income from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. accounts for about two-thirds of the whole day.
In order to ensure the quality, the Must-order Seafood Binjiang Road Store also has clear requirements for the weight of seafood, such as the weight of a single pike crab should be about half a catty. At present, about 30% of the seafood purchased by the store every day is local to Tianjin, including pike crab, pipi shrimp, eight strips, hairy clams, etc.
"Because of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the purchase price of Pipi shrimp has increased by 20 yuan per catty today." Although the price of seafood is one day and the price has risen due to the Mid-Autumn Festival, according to Shi Lei, since the opening of the sea on September 1, the average purchase price of local seafood in the store has decreased significantly compared with before the opening of the sea, such as the purchase price of pipi shrimp has dropped by about 20%.
After the opening of the sea, it is not only the purchase price of the must-order seafood Binjiang Road store that has dropped. The person in charge of a seafood chain brand Gulou store in Tianjin told reporters: "Since the opening of the sea, due to the increase in market supply, the average purchase price of local seafood in our store has dropped by about 20%. At noon on September 14, the reporter saw in the store that the hall was plastered with "Open the sea!" The sea crabs are free! Freedom! "Tianjin Pure Salt Wangzi Shrimp", "Local Old Flavor Boat Skin Shrimp" and many other promotional banners. According to the person in charge of the store, during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, they increased their single-day stock by about 30% compared with usual.
Liu Ning, a native of Sichuan, has been in the seafood business for many years. In 2016, he co-founded a seafood chain brand in Tianjin, Pier 8, Steam Seafood Hot Pot. At present, the brand has a total of 8 stores in Tianjin, ranging in size from more than 500 square meters to more than 2,000 square meters.
At the Haihe store of Steam Seafood Hot Pot at Pier 8, Liu Ning told reporters that since the opening of the sea, the average price of the brand's purchase of local seafood in Tianjin has dropped by about 15% compared with before. "We have more than 40 kinds of seafood in our store, of which about 30% are from Tianjin. After the opening of the sea, the pipi shrimp and pike crabs we purchased were all local seafood in Tianjin. He said.
On the day of the interview, the reporter noticed that in the Haihe store of Pier 8 steam seafood hot pot, the price of skin shrimp was 99.8 yuan per catty, the price of white clams was 49.9 yuan per catty, and the price of king crab was 329 yuan per catty......
"About 70% of the ingredients in our hot pot are seafood. In terms of unit price, Haihe stores are roughly 120 yuan to 150 yuan. Liu Ning told reporters that during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, they will increase their single-day stock by about 40% compared with usual.
As we continue to be optimistic about the Tianjin seafood market, Pier 8 Steam Seafood Hot Pot plans to open two new stores this year, located in Hexi District and Nankai District.
Cold chain storage and transportation
Two or three percent of fresh seafood is stored in cold storage
"Local + Import" realizes year-round seafood supply
"Today, there are 2,000 catties of flounder, more than 400 catties of flat fish, and more than 500 catties of hairtail fish in storage, and most of the recent stocks are freshly caught marine fish." Mr. He, the person in charge of a small cold storage in Binhai New Area, told reporters while checking the seafood in the warehouse that it is the peak season for seafood sales, and delicious shrimp, crabs, shellfish, etc. have jumped to the "C position" of the people's table, becoming a seasonal fresh product for treating themselves and entertaining relatives and friends.
The reporter learned that after the opening of the sea, most of the seafood caught by fishermen flowed to the seafood market, and a small amount was sent to the cold storage for storage.
"People love to eat fresh goods, and seventy or eighty percent of seafood products on the market will be sold in the near future, and the remaining two or three percent will be stored in cold storage." Mr. He said that every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, seafood continues to sell hotly, and most of the fishermen catch and sell it, generally after mid-October, those who are not digested in the market and reserve the Spring Festival for off-season sales will be concentrated in cold storage. "Last year, we stocked 15 tonnes of white shrimp, 10 tonnes of hairtail, 5 tonnes of flat fish and 4 tonnes of octopus and other local seafood, and some customers purchased salt prawns, made them into shrimp and stored them here, and then processed them into small packages or gift boxes for sale on the eve of the Chinese New Year." He said.
With the increasing scale of seafood consumption, it is difficult to meet the annual consumption needs of the people with seafood caught in just a few months. However, it can be seen that people can eat seafood all year round, which is inseparable from the help of imported seafood.
When the fishing is in full swing, the cold storage of the city's Dongjiang Comprehensive Bonded Zone is hurrying to ship, and the cold chain transport vehicles full of fresh food are running on the highway extending in all directions.
"Recently, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the amount of frozen products shipped out of the warehouse was very large, and the amount used to be more than 100 tons per day, but now the daily volume is more than 300 tons, nearly half of which are white shrimp from Ecuador and Saudi Arabia." The person in charge of a large cold storage in the Dongjiang Comprehensive Bonded Zone told reporters, "In the past few days, there have been a lot of goods out of the warehouse and a lot of orders, and the shrimp in the customer store are selling very quickly, and they are in a hurry to replenish the goods, and they have to increase the delivery of more than 100 tons every day, and continue to send them to Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Shandong and other places." ”
In recent years, the city has accelerated the construction of a cold chain logistics system, and the Dongjiang Comprehensive Bonded Zone and the central fishing port of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City have been approved as national backbone cold chain logistics bases, and the scale of cold chain imports has been expanding. Last year, the scale of imported frozen products (meat and aquatic products) at Tianjin port reached 2.73 million tons, accounting for about a quarter of the country, ranking second in the country. The abundant cold chain logistics supporting resources not only extend the sales cycle of local seafood, but also allow fresh food from all over the world to gather here to "preserve" the happiness of the people's tongue.
Editor-in-charge: Jiang Saisai
Executive Producer: Zhang Xiaonan
Source: Tianjin Daily