Aussie Lobsters Sneak into China

Australian rock lobsters are being smuggled to China via HK

Australia and China have had long simmering disputes as of late, and this has led to the latter banning numerous food products from Down Under.

First it was wines, along with barley, log timber, copper, coal, and sugar, and recently it's rock lobsters.

But the red crustaceans are making their way to China via Hong Kong thanks to some daring smugglers.

Australian wines are banned from entering China

Back in 2015 when China-Australia Free Trade Agreement was signed, smuggling was brought to a halt and four years later, more than 90 percent of Australia's rock lobsters were exported to China, worth a staggering US$553.7 million a year, according to the Australian agriculture department.

However, the trade ban has resurrected smuggling operations. It's not just lobsters the smugglers are bringing over to China, but also frozen meats, cigarettes and other goods, possibly jewellery, bird's nest, or shark's fin.

In April, Hong Kong imported a whopping 157,978kg of Australian rock lobsters -- about 50 times the amount imported in October, just before the ban took effect.

Lobsters are packed in boxes and kept chilled

But none of the lobsters show up as cargo being re-exported to mainland China, said Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department. Only 5 percent of the lobsters are re-exported to Macau.

"How could people in Hong Kong consume so many lobsters?" asks a local seafood trader. "Of course they must have ended up on the mainland."

Mainland e-commerce sites like Xianyu and Taobao have suppliers in Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou selling rock lobsters for 300 yuan to 1,000 yuan (US$45-US$155) per kilogram.

How they get to China is, the lobsters are chilled -- not frozen -- to keep them alive and the cold temperatures put them to sleep. After an eight-hour flight from Perth to Hong Kong, and cleared customs, the crustaceans are put in water tanks for two or three days to freshen them up and then repacked again in boxes to make the illicit journey.

The lobsters end up on dining tables in China

Some are hidden in fishermens' boats together with their usual haul to get to the other side a few kilometres away, while others are taken by speedboat by smugglers. It's crucial to get the lobsters transported as quickly as possible because no one wants a dead lobster on arrival...