Lockdowns fail to dent China’s appetite for salmon

Despite the resurgence of Covid in some parts of the country, seafood exports to China have got off to a strong start in the first two months of this year with salmon taking the lead. The Norwegian Seafood Council says that 28,500 tonnes of fish worth NOK 1.2bn (£100m) were sold during January and February. Thanks to rising prices, this represents an increase of 111% on the same period in 2021 and a rise of 30% in volume terms. The Seafood Council said the jump in value was driven both by increased volumes and by higher prices for salmon which have risen sharply in recent weeks. It adds: “Salmon accounts for 45% of the export value, and this is higher than what we have seen earlier for this period. In addition, we are also seeing a strong increase in value for both whitefish and pelagics.” The city of Shanghai, with a population of 26 million, has just gone into a 10-day lockdown to stem a sharp rise in Covid cases. The Seafood Council said Chinese Civil Aviation Administration recently announced that between now and 1 May five airlines are diverting flights away from Shanghai to other cities in China. However, past experience in a number of countries has shown that if consumers can’t eat fish in restaurants, they turn to cooking it at home, so the Seafood Council’s next set of figures could prove interesting. Meanwhile, the Seafood Council has launched a comprehensive consumer survey on seafood imports into China.