Triple fish, once sold for dozens of dollars, have become cheaper — the interface news shows that in part of the supermarket chain, 100 grams of raw salmon are sold at $19. 9; and on the electrician platform, 500 grams of imported salmon meat is sold at $99. Most of these salmon come from norway, while the decline in salmon prices is related to supply。
The interface news learned from the norwegian maritime service that, as the share of salmon in the chinese market continued to climb, from 39 per cent at the beginning of the year to 71 per cent in june, the highest share in the chinese market in the past 15 years. In addition, since the beginning of the year, norway has experienced a surge in seafood, and china is now the third largest export market for all norwegian seafood。
Norwegian salmon market share in china surged from 39 per cent at the beginning of the year to 71 per cent in june: electrician platforms
The increase in imports of salmon from norway is due to the release of chinese consumer demand. The director general of the china district of the norwegian marine authority, bish ming, said that china’s salmon market was unleashing unprecedented potential, and that by the first quarter of this year china had jumped to the sixth largest global export market for atlantic salmon, with the fastest growth in the top 10 markets worldwide。
The chinese association for the circulation and processing of aquaculture said to the interface that salmon had grown more rapidly in the chinese market in recent times for two main reasons. The first is a reduction in the price of salmon and an increase in the willingness of domestic consumers to buy. In addition, multiple distribution channels have improved the ease of buying salmon and have contributed to higher rates of consumer buy-backs。
“the decline in domestic salmon prices has been influenced by changes in demand on the international market.” the soldiers told the interface that current international market demand is growing slowly, that individual countries and regions represented by the united states have even experienced market contractions, and that, while total production has remained largely constant, the market has become over-supplyed, prompting chinese markets to reduce the price of salmon。
In addition, multiple convenient marketing channels open markets for salmon. When the salmon entered china more than 20 years ago, they were mainly found in the dailies. The soldiers said that the former salmon had been imported as a whole, divided by the chef, and that there were now a number of salmon processing plants in china, which supplied them in small packages to supermarkets or electricians。
Bishop observed that, with the spread of sushi and stabbing, consumption demand for norwegian salmon was growing rapidly in china. The continued growth of the middle class in china, coupled with the expansion of electricity suppliers and new retail channels, has led to a parallel consumption pattern of “underline + digital” and has contributed to the accelerated release of consumption potential. Currently, the main outlets for the sale of salmon include merchants, fresh-cut shops, catering channels, or take-out packages and cold chains。
Between january and august of this year, norway exported 61,000 tons of salmon to china, an increase of 120 per cent over the same period; exports amounted to nok 5,425 million, an increase of 66 per cent over the same period. China became the fifth largest global export market for salmon in norway, with the fastest increase in the top 10 markets。
Customs data indicate that the main importers of chinese salmon include norway, chile, australia and the faroe islands. Norway, however, has better captured the growth opportunities of the chinese market。
Like chile's carpentry, thailand's durian, every country has a representative product. The soldiers suggested that the influence of a country's food imports in the chinese market depended on two points, firstly, the high level of production and the stability of quality, which could support market ownership and, secondly, the country's input into the chinese market。
The soldiers observed that the norwegian salmon had been extensively promoted in the chinese market more than 20 years ago, with different activities even quarterly to reach consumers through daily stores, supermarkets and the media。
The interface news learned that, in order to further seize the growth opportunities of the chinese market, the norwegian sea agency's investment strategy for china will continue to be scaled up, with a projected 70 per cent increase in the market budget, and will focus more on collaboration with local industry partners on digital online platforms, including not only local food chain brands, but also hungry, small red books, micro-credit platforms, etc。
Norwegian salmon stabbing (photo from norwegian seafood agency)
Prior to this, the long-standing dependence on imported high-end food caviar had led to an increase in supply through domestic farming, which had hit prices, and salmon faced more complex challenges in achieving that path。
According to the proclamation issued by the people's government of zhejiang nining pyoshan county, in 2025 china was able to bring up the native farming of norwegian salmon, the eggs of which originated in iceland, and farming techniques and management experience in norway. “the salmon after slaughter reach all parts of the country within 24 hours to ensure that the product is fresh, which is more advantageous than the 3-4 days required for imported salmon to pass customs”。
However, this farm is still in its infancy, with limited marketable production. More of the domestically produced salmon “homes of origin” are found on the market in inland areas such as qinghai, xinjiang, yunnan and guizhou。
But a challenge for domestically produced salmon is market recognition. A number of chinese consumers have doubts about the quality of inland salmon, which are believed to be “wine trout”, carrying large numbers of parasites。
In a general article published in 2018 by the agricultural quality safety centre of the ministry of agriculture and rural development, it is stated that “sandfish” is not a scientific name for a fish, but a generic name for salmon fish. In the section's general article, dr. Meng yujong, a long-standing researcher in aquatic and food sciences at qinghai university, stated that the chinese salmon in the qinghai sea were not much different in meat from those raised by sea and could be eaten rawly. The article also uses a test report to show that no parasites have been seen in the product。
It was pointed out that rainbow trout did not necessarily carry parasites and that rainbow trout raised in safe waters could be used for raw fish, but required frequent safety tests. It should be noted that, at the international level, there is also a distinction between salmon and trout, with salmon specifically designated as salmon。
However, in order for consumers to overcome such concerns, national production cards are needed to increase market education。
In addition, one of the factors that worries consumers is the disparity in the prices of different salmon. Previously, norwegian salmon had been imported at relatively high farm and transport costs, which had resulted in relatively high prices, while domestic rainbow trout had been affected, for example, by low transport costs, which were relatively pro-people prices. In 2018, when the above-mentioned scientific article was published, the price of rainbow trout grown in chinese fresh water was about one third lower than that of imported salmon。
The current decline in the price of imported salmon could have a direct impact on domestic rainbow trout farming enterprises。
On a market scale, the soldiers believe that there is room for growth in salmon over the next three to five years.” in addition to cold and frozen salmon, which are common in china, there are wild salmon and smoked salmon. In the markets of europe and the united states, the market share for the farming of salmon and wild salmon has been almost equal.” the soldiers believe that the market for mature salmon consumption is more diversified, with consumers preferring the health concept of wild salmon, and others prefer the more fertile taste of salmon farming. In the future, the market share of ice cream or margaritas may decline in china, but consumers are expected to produce more abundant salmon products。
