The man behind the world’s largest e-commerce company will take full advantage of the normalised relations between Norway and China. According to Bloomberg, Jack Ma is planning for sale of Norwegian salmon on the internet.
Jack Ma is one of China’s richest men, and a massive celebrity within the country. His Alibaba Group has become a giant of global online trade, and had a turnover of 3,400 billion last year, reported NTB news agency.
According to Bloomberg, the company has now reached an agreement with Norwegian Marine Harvest to sell Norwegian salmon on the internet.
Ma did not want to comment on the deal as he welcomed Prime Minister Erna Solberg to the company’s offices on Sunday.
‘We now deliver goods in 24 hours in China, and have an ambition to make the fastest possible deliveries worldwide’, explained Ma during a tour of Alibaba Group’s vast premises in Hangzhou in eastern China.
18 years ago, Ma founded the online store, Alibaba. Now, the network company has grown into China’s largest, with a number of pages on Taobao and Tmall, which are China’s equivalent, respectively, of eBay and Amazon.
Ma provides over 35,000 jobs; he is still the company’s chairman, and transformed himself into one of China’s richest men through the company’s business.
The plans for salmon sales will open a large market to Norway. Alibaba Group has a turnover of more than the global giants, eBay and Amazon, manage together, serving over 430 million customers worldwide last year.
‘Alibaba is an exciting platform, since it is the one that reaches the general public. In the future, there may be opportunities for everything from Omega 3 tablets to fresh fish’, said Solberg to NRK news.
Export of fresh Norwegian salmon was among the things affected when China broke political contact with Norway over the issue of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Liu Xiaobo in 2010. Although imports were not completely stopped, the deliveries were delayed,
and licenses weren’t renewed.
According to Dagens Næringsliv newspaper, exports plunged from 12,434 tonnes in 2010, to 4154 tonnes in 2011. Although it has since rebounded, Norwegian salmon lost a huge market share in the world’s second biggest economy.
After Easter, the travel management for the Chinese veterinary authorities of Norway are to open up again for Norwegian salmon exports, according to the newspaper.
Ma and Solberg have met a number of times before, but this is the first time a foreign head of state visited the Alibaba Group HQ. Both Ma and Solberg are involved in the work of achieving UN sustainability goals.
Source: nrk.no / Norway Today
