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- In this article, it was emphasized that the production of cockles is very dependent on the cleanliness of the environment it is produced in.

- As a result, due to pollution occurring in every area of the world, major suppliers and producers over the world reached a consensus that the increase in price of cockles due to the declining supply is inevitable.

- However, the different major suppliers and producers such as South Korea has started to export to developed countries such as Australia and United States in an attempt to help out. In February 2018, they also obtained Halal certification with the desire to boost their export numbers, especially to Asian countries as well as other regions.

- South Korea is the only producer that is certified to export blood cockle overseas. They own a 300-hectare blood cockle farm with a maximum daily picking capacity of 25MT. Their cockles are priced higher than other countries’ as they are known for having the cockles with best quality.

- As demand remains somewhat consistent and supply of the cockles are limited now, prices inevitably increases.

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As blood cockle season commences in September, sourcing enquiries for blood cockle have been growing in number recently. In order to meet the expectation, we have engaged with multiple blood cockle suppliers from China, South Korea, and Malaysia.

Our Suppliers

With an aim to meet the different needs, Tridge has recently engaged with 4 good suppliers in China. All of our suppliers own large-scale processing lines that allow not only the production of frozen blood cockles but a wide range of frozen shellfish items. Our engaged suppliers have strong locality and expertise, backed by over 25 years of industry experience. With such experience, our suppliers are capable of handling both minor and major issues that frequently occur in the shellfish industry.

Our South Korean supplier, the only producer that is certified to export blood cockle overseas, owns a 300-hectare blood cockle farm with maximum daily picking capacity of 25MT. South Korea's blood cockles are priced higher than that of other countries as it is known for the best quality. With such reputation, we are experiencing growth in the number of enquiries for Korean cockles from different countries. Our South Korean supplier recently started exporting to developed countries such as Australia and the U.S. In February 2018, the supplier obtained Halal certification with the aim to boost export, particularly to regions such as UAE, Europe, and other Asian countries.

Malaysia has approximately 4,800km of coastlines, where most of them are known as mangrove-fringed mudflats. Malaysian blood cockles are smaller in size but known for the high quality due to the abundance of clean mudflats.

Why Tridge?

Blood cockles grow in areas of mudflats (a.k.a. coastal wetlands) and require clean water to thrive. Due to water pollution around the world, we are witnessing a decreasing trend in blood cockle production. However, with Tridge's pre-emptive action to deal with possible difficulties in blood cockle sourcing, we were able to engage with reliable live and frozen blood cockle suppliers. Blood cockle is a niche item, even within the shellfish industry. We are seeing growth in global demand for its rich flavour and high protein content, enabling active use in human consumption. However, with decreasing global trend in production, the cockle price will inevitably increase every season. Therefore, it is essential for buyers to preoccupy the blood cockle supply through long-term contract with credible supplier in order to secure the deal at the most competitive price.

Recently, Tridge has connected a major wholesaler in Thailand with a frozen blood cockle supplier from Dandong, China. In addition, we are receiving more enquiries from developed countries such as Australia and European countries. These buyers are looking for sustainable Asian suppliers that can provide a high quantity with competitive price to replace the European blood cockles. Because the blood cockle market is such a highly fluctuating seasonal market, most buyers also purchase other variety of shellfish in order to diversify the risk. Regarding such market identity, Asian suppliers could be the most attractive option for blood cockle buyers. Our engaged suppliers have a wide range of products with capacity and capability to fulfil additional needs that buyers may have.

The credibility of our frozen cockle suppliers has been proved by a recent incident of our Chinese supplier dealing with an urgent buyer request on additional supply. One of the buyers urgently requested for an additional amount of supply which the supplier was not able to fulfil by the stock. However, the supplier bought cockle seeds from other farms and raised the cockle to fulfil the additional order, even though the supplier was not obliged to do so.

Blood cockle price varies according to its size and quality. Tridge connects buyers with suppliers who meet the required specifications at the most competitive price. For Suppliers, we identify trade opportunities with genuine buyers from various different regions. Through our distinctive network of world-wide scope local agents, we identify the most competitive condition customized for every buyer and supplier. Seize new blood cockle trade opportunities with Tridge today.
Contact Us:
Editor: Eunyoo Chang / eunyoo.chang@tridge.com

Sourcing Team Expert: Elly Lee / eunjeong.lee@tridge.com

Or request for quotation through: http://www.tridge.com/inquiry

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Blood Cockle Season to Commence in September - Tridge Blog

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As blood cockle season commences in September, sourcing enquiries for blood cockle have been growing in number recently. In order to meet the expectation, we have engaged with multiple blood cockle suppliers from China, South Korea, and Malaysia. With an aim to meet the different needs, Tridge has recently engaged with 4 good suppliers in China.

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A cockle is an edible, marine bivalve mollusc. Although many small edible bivalves are loosely called cockles, true cockles are species in the family Cardiidae. True cockles live in sandy, sheltered beaches throughout the world. The distinctive rounded shells are bilaterally symmetrical, and are heart-shaped when viewed from the end. Numerous radial, evenly spaced ribs are a feature of the shell in most but not all genera (for an exception, see the genus Laevicardium, the egg cockles, which have very smooth shells).

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A cockle is an edible, marine bivalve mollusc. Although many small edible bivalves are loosely called cockles, true cockles are species in the family Cardiidae. True cockles live in sandy, sheltered beaches throughout the world. The distinctive rounded shells are bilaterally symmetrical, and are heart-shaped when viewed from the end.

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Majority of the members in our group have once came across an article on Channel News Asia regarding the shortage of cockles - causing us to unequivocally decide to use cockles for this project.
As it is also something that all of us love consuming, we felt that it would be a good idea to conduct research on something that we are all interested in.

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- Five years ago, cockles cost Mr Lam Chan Wah around S$1.50 to S$2 per kg, but now it cost S$4.50 per kg due to the decreasing supply.

- Mr Lam Chan Wah says there have been more customers even as the cockle supply has decreased.

-  In 2013, Singapore imported 2,720 tonnes of cockles from Malaysia. However, it fallen to 1,700 tonnes last year.

- Mr Halim Mat Sa’ad from Kuala Juru in Penang. He has been in the business for 20 years, and he went from catching 250 kg of cockles per day in 2014 to 50 kg at most now.

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Pollution, smuggling and overharvesting have stacked the odds against blood cockles bouncing back from the huge fall in supply, although there is a hope - aquaculture. The series For Food's Sake investigates.

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SINGAPORE and MALAYSIA: It has built its reputation on serving see-hum (blood cockles), and the star dish at the Two Chefs Eating House is still its garlic and chilli cockles. The Singaporean restaurant serves over 10 kilogrammes of these cockles daily.

In recent times, however, they have become even more precious to owner Lam Chan Wah. Five years ago, they cost him around S$1.50 to S$2 per kg, but that figure is now around S$4.50 because the supply has been dwindling.

In 2013, Singapore imported 2,720 tonnes of cockles from Malaysia, the source of more than 99 per cent of the Republic's live cockles. That has now fallen to 1,700 tonnes last year. So what has happened?

With food prices rising by 2.1 per cent a year, on average, over the past five years, the series For Food's Sake finds out what is behind the hikes in the prices of various foods, from rice to bananas to sugarcane.

It is not only about climate change or inflation caused by labour cost. The reasons are scandalous in some cases, such as chicken (price-fixing) and cockles being ruined by the direct impact of human development on the environment. ( Watch this first episode here.)
HEADACHE FOR FISHERMEN
However, for Singaporeans who have grown up eating cockles as a must-have ingredient in their laksa and char kway teow, it is not only a matter of price.

As presenter and foodie Lennard Yeong discovered when ordering laksa at a stall, the hawker could not provide more see-hum than the usual amount, not even for extra money, because of the low supply.

Blood cockles have always been a widely available source of protein in Singapore. They get their name from their red flesh, caused by high levels of haemoglobin. And their slightly metallic flavour makes them a delicacy - like oysters, but cheaper.

In Malaysia, cockles are a key income source for fishermen in the main breeding states of Selangor, Perak, Penang and Johor. But it is now a multimillion-ringgit industry teetering on the brink of a crisis.

In 2005, the country produced 100,000 tonnes of cockles for export and local consumption. But by 2015, only 16,000 tonnes were harvested. And the shortage is getting more serious.

Take, for example, Mr Halim Mat Sa'ad from Kuala Juru in Penang. He has been in the business for 20 years, and he went from catching 250 kg of cockles per day in 2014 to 50 kg at most now.

His earnings have shrunk by two to three times over those four years, and nothing has prepared him for this problem. He said:

It isn't enough to survive. This income issue gives me a headache.

Cockles spend their lives burrowing in the muddy seabed not far from the shore, and Malaysia's coastline was once a fertile breeding ground, thanks also to its relatively slow currents.

But its cockles are dying off because the natural balance of their habitat is being disturbed. "It's because the water is contaminated by acid, or chemicals are released into the water, causing pollution and harming the cockles," said Mr Halim.

In Penang, the island's second bridge to the mainland, completed in 2014, has also affected the fishermen's livelihood because it changed the water currents, according to him.
HIGH NITRATE LEVEL
"When the water doesn't flow fast enough, it causes the mud to build up, so it's hard for us to fish for them," he said. "The cockles can't survive when the mud is too thick."

To test what is in the water, Mr Yeong enlisted the help of the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies at the Universiti Sains Malaysia.

And the results of the samples indicated that the nitrate level in the seawater was "pretty high", said research officer Nithiyaa Nilamani. It is one of two chemical compounds that are especially bad news for cockles. The other is phosphate.

"Those are the nutrients that come from river runoff," she said. And high levels of both mean that the mudflats have been affected by chemicals leaking from farms or nearby factories.

"Nitrite would enter the system of the cockle, and it would bind with the blood system, and it would reduce the oxygen level in the cockles. So that's how they would suffocate, and it would cause mortality."
SMUGGLING AND OVERHARVESTING
Studies have traced the impurities to agricultural pesticides as well as waste from industrial and construction sites.

Penang, for example, has been transformed into a tourism paradise and manufacturing hub over the past 20 years. It has seven industrial parks, including on the mainland, and by 2016, about 3,000 manufacturing companies.

To protect the cockle population, the Malaysian authorities have limited the amount of cockle spat (young cockles) that can be harvested. These are precious because they can help to culture new cockles.

Baby cockles caught by fishermen in Johor, for example, are in demand in states like Selangor, Perak and Penang "so they can grow them there", said Mr Hairul Akbar Saat, the general manager of the Pontian District Fisherman Association.

The spat can be distributed only within Malaysia. But not everyone follows the rules. He said:

You need a permit to distribute the cockle spat to other (Malaysian) states, but some greedy fishermen who want more income sell them to people who smuggle (the spat) to Thailand.

The Thais love cockles as much as the Malaysians do, but their coastline does not produce enough to meet the demand. That is why the smuggled spat can go for as much as five times the price in Malaysia.

According to Mr Hairul, the baby cockles are thrown into cans or gunny sacks and stashed in lorries, usually under legitimate cargo. The spat can live one to two days on land and must then go back into water or perish.

There were 33 cases of smuggling reported in 2015 and 35 cases in 2014. Those found guilty may face a two-year jail term or a fine of more than RM80,000 (S$26,450).

In general, the overharvesting of baby cockles, when the mature ones are in short supply, makes it even harder for the population to recover, said Dr Hadzley Harith from the Fisheries Research Institute in Penang.
WHAT MORE CAN BE DONE
Cockles have a lifespan of about three years, and "if we cut the reproductive cycle ... we're promoting the shortage of cockles in the environment", he added.

"Our biggest task is to persuade the local (fishermen) to do proper management and to harvest the cockle (according to the size) ... (and) that cockles aren't an open bank (which they) can harvest daily or every time."

One person on a mission to help revive the cockle population is Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies director Aileen Tan. She wants to breed cockles in a fully controlled environment to reduce the dangers of contamination and overharvesting.

"I'm trying to find other ways to culture cockles rather than in their natural site, which is now considered as polluted. So we've introduced cleaner or bigger-sized sediment for them to attach to," she said.

"If you see the cockles opening up, that means they're comfortable with the environment. Digging into the substrate ... shows that they've already started feeding. That means they're no longer under stress."

At the centre's laboratory, Malaysia's oldest at 35 years old, she has experimented with different kinds of sand for cockles to live in, instead of mud, which gets contaminated easily. And the cockles seem to prefer the finer sediments.

If her method works, she thinks that a lot of unused prawn ponds along the coastline can be used to grow cockles, with their favourite type of sediment placed there.

Cages could also be utilised, following the aquaculture example of many other seafood farms across Asia. The cages would protect the cockles from touching the sea floor and river bed, where the heavy metals and other pollutants tend to collect.

Dr Tan believes that these methods will guarantee healthier cockles and reduce their mortality rate.

"Our waters aren't going to get better. Capture fisheries aren't making money any more. Aquaculture is the answer now. So this is the beginning of the aquaculture of cockles," she said. "We need the cockles back desperately."
Watch this episode here. The next episode of For Food's Sake airs on Monday, Nov 5, at 8pm.
Still, it would take a while for the population to recover through farming and even longer for the price to drop. Are the days of cheap and ubiquitous cockles over, at least for now?

Said Mr Yeong: "It feels as if it's time we get used to eating laksa and char kway teow without cockles, unless you're willing to pay top dollar."

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No more 'hum' in laksa? Why cockles are becoming costlier and harder to find

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Pollution, smuggling and overharvesting have stacked the odds against blood cockles bouncing back from the huge fall in supply, although there is a hope - aquaculture. The series For Food's Sake investigates.

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The relevant determinant of price elasticity of demand is necessity vs luxury.

The change in price of cockles is price inelastic, which means the increase in price will not affect the quantity demanded for cockles.

Many people across the world such as Singaporeans and Thailand citizens view cockles as an essential ingredient to their dishes - causing demand for this ingredient to remain consistent even though price has increased drastically.

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Demand
The main Non-Price Determinants of Demand is Number of Buyers.

Changes in demand varies from one part of the world to another. However, the general consensus is that demand does not fluctuate greatly due to the lack of substitutes of cockles. Many countries such as Thailand and Singapore view cockles as a necessity in many of their traditional dishes - causing the demand for cockles to remain constant, or decrease only by a little, even though price of cockles has increased greatly.

Supply
The main non-price determinants of Supply is Number of Sellers.

Due to the limited number of authorised producers of cockles, the supply of cockles has declined due to a decrease in number of sellers.

The decline in supply can be attributed to various causes such as pollution, over-harvesting and destruction of natural production grounds such as mudflats across the world.

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Determinant of Price Elasticity of Demand = Necessity v Luxury

- It shows us how much more or less of a good buyer buys when there is a change in price of the good.

- As cockles are one of the key ingredients of Singapore delicacies such as laksa and char kway teow, the price increase in cockles will lead to a subsequent price increase in these food as well.

- However, as people love to eat laksa and char kway teow, they would not mind paying a higher price for it. We can conclude that cockles is a necessary ingredient in the cooking of certain dishes, which makes it price inelastic to a certain extent.

- As cockles are determined to be price inelastic in Singapore's context, the change in price would not result in a major change in quantity demanded - thereby causing an increase in the price of cockles sold.

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- The most important factor is the price of the goods itself.
- There exists a direct relationship between the price of the good and the quantity supplied.

Non-Price Determinants of Supply
- Number of Sellers
Having only a limited number of reputable sellers in the market of cockles, price of the cockles produced by sellers with an established reputation are higher than the market's price.

Law of Demand
- The most important factor is the price of the good itself.
- Price and Quantity demanded have an inverse relationship.
Non-Price Determinants of Demand
- Number of buyers
As the global trend in production decreases, the cockle's price will inevitably increase every season which caused the quantity demanded to increase - this results in the demand of cockles remaining consistent, or at worst case decrease just a little as buyers would still demand for cockles knowing that the price of it will increase once again in the near future. This is evident from 'more enquiries from developed countries such as Australia and European countries. These buyers are looking for sustainable Asian suppliers that can provide a high quantity with competitive price to replace the European blood cockles.'

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The supply of cockle decreases, the price of the cockle increases and the quantity decreases.

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Oligopoly
Cockles' market have similar characteristics to an oligopoly market.

There are many buyers and few sellers, whereby product is relatively similar but with small differences, the market is difficult to enter and the level of quality of information is limited.

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- Cockle picking has been banned along the coast between the River Etel and Penthièvre in Morbihan.

- Members of the public have been urged not to eat cockles or other shellfish from the area.

- The department's prefect ordered the ban after it was discovered shellfish have been contaminated with naturally-occurring lipophilic toxins, caused by a bloom in algae due to favourable weather conditions. Eating contaminated products can lead to sickness and diarrhoea.

- The ban, which takes in professional and recreational cockle fishing and picking and came into effect on Thursday, September 7, will be in force until "a satisfactory health situation is restored" the préfecture said in a statement.

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Cockle picking has been banned along the coast between the River Etel and Penthièvre in Morbihan.

Members of the public have been urged not to eat cockles or other shellfish from the area.

The department's prefect ordered the ban after it was discovered shellfish have been contaminated with naturally-occurring lipophilic toxins, caused by a bloom in algae due to favourable weather conditions. Eating contaminated products can lead to sickness and diarrhoea.

The ban - which takes in professional and recreational cockle fishing and picking and came into effect on Thursday, September 7 - will be in force until 'a satisfactory health situation is restored' the préfecture said in a statement.

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Ban on cockle picking due to health alert

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Cockle picking has been banned along the coast between the River Etel and Penthièvre in Morbihan. Members of the public have been urged not to eat cockles or other shellfish from the area. The department's prefect ordered the ban after it was discovered shellfish have been contaminated with naturally-occurring lipophilic toxins, caused by a bloom in algae due to favourable weather conditions.

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Due to the ban of cockle picking, the supply of cockles will decrease, which would lead to the decrease in the number of sellers.
The non-price determinant of supply in this case would be 'Number of Sellers'.

Demand in this scenario would also decrease due to expectations of buyers caused by rumors of the health repercussions of consuming cockles.
The non-price determinant of demand would be 'Expectations of Buyers'.

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An Oligopoly market is one which has the following characteristics:
- Few sellers
- Product uniformity is similar/ differentiated depending on industry
- Difficult to enter and exit the market
- Limited information available

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In Article 1 & 3, it is stated that due to pollution of waters and the limitation of cockles which can be harvested, it causes production of cockles to decrease. As a result, due to limitation or unsuitability of resources, there is a decline of number of sellers in this market - which means that there are now very few sellers as compared to before.

In Article 2, it states that the size and quality of cockles will vary from one producer to the other. This is also backed up by the fact that South Korea's cockles are more sought after than other countries'. Thus, this shows that cockles is not a homogeneous product and there is product differentiation to a certain extent in terms of the size, shape, taste and quality of the cockles.

All 3 articles also commonly stated that in order to cultivate cockles, one requires a suitable type of sediment and also large amounts of land. As not many firms or startups have such resources, especially Singapore given their land constraint, there exists a high barrier of entry - once again another characteristic of a oligopoly.

Lastly, the information of cockles available is limited because of the few sellers in the market. In article 2, it states that there are only a few producers of cockles: from China, Malaysia and South Korea. In addition, it also states that South Korea is the only producer that is certified to export blood cockles overseas. Thus, as cockles do not have any close substitutes, firms in the market have substantial market power and they are able to set prices.

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The supply of cockle decreases and the demand of cockle increases, the price of cockle increases and the quantity decreases