Norwegian Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Marianne Sivertsen Næss, during a live streaming at a salmon event in Beijing.
Photo: NFD / NSC.
Visiting China, where she participated in a salmon event in Beijing organized by the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC), Norway's Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Marianne Sivertsen Næss, spoke about what the Asian giant's market means for Norwegian seafood exports and the boom they are experiencing in 2025.
"The Chinese market is extremely important for the Norwegian seafood industry. We have exported seafood here worth more than 10 billion kroner so far this year. In particular, the export of salmon has increased significantly," she said.
The truth is that, since last July, China overtook the U.S. as the destination market for Norwegian seafood exports, as the NSC reports show month by month, Chinese interest in Norwegian seafood products is growing.
Thus, according to figures from the Norwegian Seafood Council in October, up to that point, the value of Norwegian seafood exports to China this year had increased by 67%, while the volume of salmon exports had more than doubled. Not only that, but demand is also increasing for other species, such as shrimp and mackerel.
Regarding shrimp, in July, China became Norway's largest shrimp market, while in September, mackerel surpassed salmon as the fastest-growing species in terms of value within Norwegian seafood exports, with China being its third largest destination market.
In addition, as reported by WeAreAquaculture, new and different sales channels are contributing to the enormous growth in demand for Norwegian salmon in China.
"Promotion and sales are taking place in online channels and on social media, with TikTok in particular dominating," then explained the NSC envoy to China, Sigmund Bjørgo, a good connoisseur of the Chinese market after working in it for more than 8 years.
"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 Bjørgo pointed out last summer, in China, live streaming has become an important driver of sales growth for products such as salmon in recent years.
Thus, taking advantage of her presence in the country, Minister Sivertsen Næss also participated live when Norwegian premium salmon brand Lerøy Aurora launched its own live streaming channel aimed at Chinese consumers.
"Visibility is absolutely crucial in the Chinese market. Live streaming and e-commerce are important arenas for food and consumer habits in China. It is exciting to see Norwegian seafood companies jump on the trend," the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans noted.
"The government is committed to ensuring good market access. This gives the industry more legs to stand on and helps secure jobs," Sivertsen Næss continued.
According to Norway's Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans, in 2024, the government gave the Norwegian Food Safety Authority an additional allocation of NOK 5 million in the national budget to strengthen its work on market access for seafood. In the budget adjustment, the work was further strengthened with an additional NOK 3 million.
"This has made it possible for the Food Safety Authority to prioritise work on strengthening market access for new seafood species to, for example, China," the Minister explained.
Thus, last month, Chinese and Norwegian authorities agreed on market access for live brown crab, also known as edible crab. The previous year, China had opened up imports of live snow crab from Norway.
In addition, also in November, both countries signed an agreement to develop a joint solution for digital health certificates for seafood products, since, as the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans pointed out, these certificates constitute a significant part of the documentation process related to the seafood trade.
"This is an important and correct step in modernising seafood trade. More secure digital solutions will reduce processing times, strengthen traceability, and give the industry more predictable conditions for trade. This will benefit both industry actors and authorities," Marianne Sivertsen Næss concluded.
