QINGDAO, China - Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson has wrapped up a visit to Qingdao and Beijing, China, where she promoted Canadian fish and seafood at the 28th China Fisheries and Seafood Expo and the Fish for Future Forum 2026, held October 26 to 30, 2026.
China is Canada’s second-largest customer for seafood. Between 2022 and 2025, Canada exported an average of around $1.3 billion worth of fish and seafood to China annually, in inflation-adjusted terms, including lobster, shrimp and crab, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said November 2.
At the start of the expo, Thompson met Ma Youxiang, former Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, for a conversation on market access for Canadian fish and seafood. During the visit she met seafood buyers from the Indo-Pacific, government representatives from multiple countries and international industry leaders, walked Qingdao’s Nanshan Seafood Market with the Underwater Harvesters Association and the Fisheries Council of Canada, and toured a Meituan supermarket store in Beijing to see how Canadian seafood, like live Nova Scotia lobster, reaches Chinese shoppers on the shelf and through delivery services.
At the Marine Stewardship Council’s Fish for Future Forum 2026, Thompson spoke about Canada’s leadership in sustainable fisheries and pointed to Northern cod, back in the healthy zone for the first time since the 1992 moratorium and now in full assessment for Marine Stewardship Council certification.
“Canada is a reliable trading partner, and Canada’s fish and seafood sector is a global leader in sustainability and quality. Through engagement in China, across the Indo-Pacific, and all around the world, we are creating new opportunities for Canadian exporters, strengthening commercial relationships and building on the relationships that get our seafood onto more dinner tables across international markets,” Thompson said.
Canada has set an ambitious new goal to increase its exports to China by 50 per cent by 2030, the same target Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu is carrying into his own China visit this week. For British Columbia, the seafood file is a coastal jobs file: harvesters, processors and exporters from Steveston to Prince Rupert depend on access to Asian markets, and the same diversification push behind both ministers’ trips is aimed at making those jobs less exposed to any single market.
(Source: Fisheries and Oceans Canada news release, November 2, 2026)
