The 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores in China is partnering with two South Korean companies on crab- and shrimp-based snacks.
7-Eleven Chinese stores, frequently located in office buildings and business areas where high-income, white-collar populations tend to congregate, are a prominent retail platform for snack products in China’s largest cities.
The Korean conglomerate Sajo Daerim Corp has begun distributing vacuum-packed crabmeat snacks under the Lobster King brand, and Hansung Foods is selling surimi-style shrimp snacks through 7-Eleven franchises in northern China.
Hansung Foods, a distant-water fisheries operator and one of South Korea’s largest importers of Alaska pollock fillets, is primarily focused on premium-grade surimi products.
Also an operator of distant-water fishing vessels, Sajo Daerim Corporation is operating in China through a subsidiary processing firm, Qingdao-based San Hu Food Co.
Having in recent decades shifted processing operations to China to avail itself of lower costs, Korean seafood enterprises now also appear to be looking to the country for direct sales.
However, China has also proven to be a turbulent market due to political reasons. For example, leading Korean retailer Lotte ceased operating in China completely in 2022 after Beijing implemented an unofficial ban on Korean goods as retribution for South Korea’s agreement to serve as the host location of a U.S. anti-missile defense system in Korea in 2016.
