Shrimp imports have increased five fold since 1993. As with importing other fresh products, the Chinese authorities have certain restrictions regarding seafood imports. Due to the high tariffs, many importers will try to evade them by shipping their goods to Hong Kong, then smuggle the products into mainland China. This method is used very often in order to reduce costs, but due to seafood's low vitality rate, and inland infrastructure, they will only be sold in cities that are close to Hong Kong, such as Guangdong and Shenzhen. China lacks a reliable and adequate distribution system in both infrastructure and capable domestic companies, thus making it difficult to ship products to anywhere outside of the large cities.
Wet markets are government controlled markets which are usually outdoors.
Most of these markets do not have any refrigeration systems. As a result, vendors buy small amount of fish to sell and if the fish is not sold by the end of each day, it is returned to the freezers of the wholesalers. Local Chinese shoppers shop daily in the wet markets as the lack of storage space and refrigeration at home prevents them from buying in bulk. While most consumers still do their shopping at the wet markets, large supermarket chains have began to sprung in major cities. These supermarkets are focused to serve mostly expatriates but many Chinese families in the upper class are also choosing supermarkets for buying their groceries.