Coronavirus | Coronavirus sees daigou demand for health items soar as perishables feel the pinch

Personal shoppers, known as daigou, have experienced a significant shift in the type of orders they are receiving from Chinese customers amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Edited by: Alejandro Maurino

The traders, who buy Australian products and send them to middle-class consumers in China, are seeing milk powder demand drop and the market for face masks surge.

Dr Mathew McDougall, president of the Australia China Daigou Association, said milk powder would normally account for half of the orders, but demand had dropped as customers prioritised health products.

“Face masks are obviously the hottest item right now … the second would be hand sanitisers and hand wash, and then we’re getting vitamin requests for things that help protect against flu and colds,” he said.

However, this has come at the detriment of agricultural products, which have been put on the backburner as the coronavirus outbreak continues.

Dr McDougall said there had been a noticeable drop of orders for fresh fruit and meat.

“There’s been a decline in order interest simply because it’s taken a second position to what’s on the table at the moment.”

Border uncertainty

With cities in lockdown and unclear border restrictions around some provinces, normal supply chains for the daigou trade are interrupted.

Dr McDougall said many daigou were avoiding sending perishable items in case the packages do not clear the border quickly.

“It’s challenging to get the products into market, particularly if you’re talking about chilled and refrigerated stuff; you don’t want it sitting on the port,” he said.

He said perishables would likely remain in low demand until the situation was resolved.

“[We’re] sensitive to the fact that the border is a little unpredictable at the moment,” Dr McDougall said.

Agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank said delays at the borders were creating widespread disruptions across many industries.

Tim Hunt, Rabobank’s head of research for Australia and New Zealand, said transport was the main concern.

“The problem is getting food and beverages to them [Chinese customers],” he said.

“So whether you’re air-freighting product into the Chinese market, sending it in refrigerated containers, or relying on domestic trucking, none of that is functioning properly at the moment.”

Shifting product demand

Dr McDougall said the coronavirus outbreak had sparked interest around Australian-produced meat but demand for other fresh produce, such as cherries, had declined.

“In terms of fruit, it’s mostly cherries because there’s certain fruit that can’t go into China due to [import] regulations,” he said.

“[But] we’re seeing that take a secondary position at this time.”

Mr Hunt said it was lucky timing for the Australian cherry harvest.

“They had picked most of their crop and shipped the Chinese portion of their sales ahead of the coronavirus really kicking in,” he said.

Dr McDougall said that on the flip side, the virus outbreak might create opportunities for Australian meat producers through daigou.

He said this was unusual because Chinese consumers did not normally associate food safety with beef.

“It’s certainly now becoming a topic that’s being brought up to us, that one of the reasons they’re talking about sourcing beef and chicken is that there’s a concern about the local produce.”

But Australia’s reputation for producing clean and green food would help with sales in the coming months, he said.

“Brand Australia, with its health and safety credentials, will put us in pretty good stead coming out of this … but we’ve got a long way to go to get to that point.”

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