China market still closed for Norwegian salmon
China hasn’t yet opened its market to Norwegian salmon, despite the political agreement on the normalisation of trade relations between our countries, reported Dagens Næringsliv newspaper.
China hasn’t removed the necessity for a long quarantine time for Norwegian salmon, which prohibits virtually all exports although the two countries have agreed to remove restrictions.
‘We’d expected the normalisation of trade to be put in place during the summer. It hasn’t happened. The biggest challenge is the length of the quarantine time, which makes it difficult to import Norwegian salmon into China’, said Sigmund Bjørgo,the Seafood Council chief for China, to Dagens Næringsliv.
It’s been six months since Foreign Minister Børge Brende of Høyre (H) announced full normalisation of political relations with China.
Should take two thirds of the market
When the Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, Norway had 94% of the total market of 15,000 tonnes of salmon in China. The market this year has grown to about 80,000 tonnes of salmon annually.
Bjørgo estimates that Norwegian exporters should take 65% of the Chinese market, which is estimated to grow to 240,000 tonnes within ten years. That would give Norwegian exporters an annual income of approximately NOK 8 billion at a price of NOK 50 per kilo.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
