Online channels and social media are now the platforms for promoting and selling salmon in China.
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As reported by WeAreAquaculture, the first half of 2025 was the best ever for Norwegian seafood exports, setting an export value record of NOK 85.2 billion. The U.S., Poland and China were, in that order, the largest markets, but, in addition, from January to June China also had the highest growth in Norwegian salmon exports value and, surprising as it may seem, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC), TikTok has had a lot to do with this boost in sales.
The figures about salmon exports are provided by NSC seafood analyst Paul T. Aandahl. "China had the highest value growth in the first half of the year, with an increase in export value of NOK 1,494 million, or 62 per cent, compared with the first half of last year. The export volume to China ended at 42,224 tonnes, which is 122 per cent higher than in the first half of last year," he said.
We had already seen this trend in March, April, and May, and, as Aandahl himself kept on explaining, it continued in June. "China was once again the largest growth market for Norwegian salmon this month, with an increase of NOK 321 million, or 84 per cent. This growth can be seen in the context of a strong increase in demand in China," he claimed.
But what is behind this increase in demand? "It's the sum of new and different sales channels that are contributing to the massive growth of salmon to China," explained the Norwegian Seafood Council's envoy to China, Sigmund Bjørgo, a good connoisseur of the Chinese market after working in it for more than 8 years, divided into two periods.
"Promotion and sales are taking place in online channels and on social media, with TikTok in particular dominating," Bjørgo continued. "At the same time, this is spilling over into the traditional sales channels, which are creating hybrid variants, with online shops and restaurants in one. These sell to passers-by, visitors sitting down and via delivery apps," he added.
As NSC's envoy to China himself explained last month, along with the underlying growth in these new emerging digital sales channels, competitive pricing is also a key driver of growth in the Asian country, especially when it comes to finding large whole fresh salmon at a good price.
Highly prized in the Chinese market - as well as in the U.S. market - thanks to favorable production conditions for Norwegian salmon this year, this type of product has been more available in this first half of 2025 than in previous periods.
The combination of all these elements has meant that Norway's market share has increased significantly in recent months in China. So far this year, the Asian giant is Norway's sixth largest market for salmon in value terms, after Poland, the United States, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.