Lobster will be cheap this Christmas, but maybe not for much longer - The Australian Financial Review

"They only spoke for 32 minutes, but it is something. Our dream scenario is to have China back."

Australia exported lobster worth about $750 million in 2018-19, and most of it was sent live to China via air freight. Exports fell to just under $400 million in 2020-21 after the outbreak of COVID-19 and China's sanctions, and sank to $360 million in 2021-22.

Sign of confidence

In a sign of confidence that a turnaround is coming, WA mining billionaire Chris Ellison has in recent days taken his first dip into the local lobster industry.

The Mineral Resources founder, who has links to China through the company's iron ore and lithium businesses, has just bought 40 lobster pots (portable traps to capture lobsters), which come with commercial catch licences, for about $65,000 apiece.

"China is a great trading partner and what Anthony Albanese is doing should have been done four years ago," Mr Ellison said after the MinRes annual general meeting on Thursday.

WA was a leading supplier of "lucky red" lobster – known in China as longxia or dragon shrimp – which can retail for as much as $200 a kilogram during the Lunar New Year and other celebrations.

In the peak of the China trade, the so-called beach price for top-grade lobster hit more than $100 a kilogram for WA fishermen and was regularly up at about $70-$80 a kilogram.

Mr Camarda, vice chairman of industry lobby group Western Rock Lobster, said he expected a beach price of $30-$35 a kilogram when lobster started to be caught in big numbers this December.

His family business, which includes his brother Joe and son James, has been selling lobster from the back of their boat at Fremantle to help generate income.

Fishermen in WA are now allowed to sell up to 200 lobsters a day this way and 400 a day in the countdown to Christmas in a bonus for local seafood lovers.

Mr Camarda said the back-of-the-boat sales helped but made up only a small percentage of the overall catch.

"We always remain hopeful [of China re-opening]," he said. "But we're also conscious of the fact we need to diversify our markets. Although that's challenging, it's something we really have to focus on."

The bigger processors have moved from live exports into lower-value cooked and frozen products, and are selling lobsters anywhere they can find a market.

India opportunities

That includes Singapore, Europe and South Korea, and the industry is also working on opening up exports to India after a recent trade delegation led by state development minister Roger Cook.

Mr Campeotto said he was a small processor relying on live sales and had no capacity to move into frozen products.

He owns two boats and leases some of his pots to another fisherman who supplies him with lobster for the processing side of his business.

"My tonnage is small and I'm battling, I'm losing money. I'm hoping next season I will turn it around," he said.

Mr Campeotto, who started his business from scratch 25 years ago, said he would never sell his lobster pots, no matter how bad the situation, and intended to pass them on to his children.