NEWS ARTICLE Lobster prices fall as Chinese demand dries up amid coronavirus epidemic - and the delicious crustaceans Daily Mail can be snapped up for just $33 By: Eliza Mcphee Date: 4" February 2020 https://www.dailymail.co.ukews/article-7963755/Lobster-prices-fall-Chinese-market-shuts- amid-coronavirus-epidemic.html Australians can buy lobster for as little as $33 as prices fall due to demand dropping from China in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic. China is one of the biggest buyers of Western Australia's rock lobster but due to the closure of the Chinese live animal trade, fishing industries are fearing the worst. at reduced prices. There are now tonnes of the crustacean sitting in holding tanks, forcing industries to sell them The Geraldton Fishermen's Cooperative (GFC) were expecting the Chinese New Year period to be their busiest time with around 50 to 60 tonnes of lobster being handled each day. But CEO Matt Rutter said they have taken a massive blow in the wake of the market closure and fear it will be some time before it reopens. Lobsters that once sold for $48 are now selling for $15 less. We are estimating that we have a month's worth of western rock lobster that we will continue to sell out of WA,' Mr Rutter told the ABC. He said there was a few hundred tonnes that had been shipped before the market shut down - with the western rock lobster making up a large proportion. Mr Rutter said that despite the low prices for consumers, staff and fishermen within the industry were at a loss. 'Because we don't have product flowing through the door, we don't have trucks driving or people at the depots receiving ... a lot of the staff that would normally be carrying that out have unfortunately been told to stand down until the product starts flowing again,' he said. "It's not just the fishers who are hurting, but everyone who relies on the industry for income.' GFC can hold 220 tonnes of lobster in refrigerated seawater storage tanks that keep them from four to six weeks. Mr Rutter said the industry will continue to use other international markets like Japan and the USA. There have been 12 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia, and more than 17,000 cases and 360 deaths globally