Norway will make a big splash promoting cod for domestic consumption at the annual China seafood expo in Dalian this November. A group of Norwegian companies mounting a “Norwegian cod pavilion” at the fair will include key players like Havfisk which has commissioned a major research project under the Norwegian Seafood Exporters Council office in China.
Cod prices are down due to the increased supply that came from Norway’s larger quotas in 2013. “Thus we needed to develop some new markets, and China was an obvious choice,” said Sigmund Bjorgo at the Norwegian Seafood Export Council office in China. His office is about to see some repayment on a “huge” research project (started in March) that will study the potential market in China, in part through focus groups with chefs and consumers as well as an intensive look at 300 retailer chains and 500 restaurants. “We are mapping out the products and price points and also the packaging and fish types and under what names they’re sold,” Bjorgo said.
But the research has also thrown up major dilemmas in marketing cod in China — including confusion over what cod is. When asked what “xue yu” (the Mandarin for cod) is Chinese chefs polled by the research group showed very little awareness of the Atlantic cod which comes from Norway. Rather what chefs identified as cod is in fact sable fish, the researchers concluded. In Chinese the term “yin xue yu” translates as “silver cod” which in reality is sable fish.
Likewise there is a lack of knowledge of what is deep sea fish: Chinese consumers polled in focus groups identified salmon as deep sea, but few could even identify Norwegian cod. Meanwhile chefs in Hong Kong pointed to black cod — “this is sable fish!” according to Bjorgo. “There is awareness for xue yu but not the xue yu as we know it. This is a tricky new market, but it is a very big opportunity,” says Bjorgo whose team is trying to decide how to pitch cod to the Chinese consumers. “We have two different products both called ‘cod’ and we have to decide if we go with ‘xue yu’ or come up with a new name. Ironically sable fish is high in fat whereas Atlantic cod is mild in taste and healthier.”
The researchers are waiting on batches of cod to arrive from Norway which they can try with consumers in focus groups in different parts of the country. This is significant because the Norwegians are researching how cod will fit with China’s various regional cuisines. There are eight main cuisines — the key ones being Sichuanese, the Shandong style and the seafood-heavy Cantonese style which originated in the wealthy southern region encompassing Guangdong and Hong Kong.
There are clearly prospects in China for cod, which is being marketed as a health food for kids as well as a food for home consumption by wealthy young consumers. On sites like JD.com and Yihaodian numerous Chinese online food distributors sell sable steaks as French and market the fish with red wine and marketing slogans like “French romantic” with serving suggestions and photos of candlelit western-style dining.
In the supermarkets, meanwhile, “Alaskan” cod steaks packaged by the U.S.-based Northern Lights firm are sold at RMB 82 (USD 13.35, EUR 10.39) per 300g pack at Beijing branches of the Ito Yokado chain. Likewise, Qingdao-based “Buying Sea” brand also markets sablefish steaks at outlets of premium Chinese retailer BHG. No one has yet cornered the name or the market for cod in the domestic market in China: Bjorgo thinks China remains wide open — efforts by firms like Icelandic to study and target cod at the Chinese domestic market have been very limited, he says. “We still don’t know what form we’ll sell, we have an open mind about fresh, frozen, whole or packaged. This will be up to the value chain in Norway, we just give them the opportunity.”
