China recently opened its market up to imports of live snow crab from Norway.
Norway announced China reopened its borders to imports of live snow crab on 9 December, a move which came after Norwegian Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Marianne Sivertsen Næss met with the Minister of Chinese Customs and Veterinary Authorities Yu Jianhua in Beijing.
"The fact that China is opening up imports of live snow crab from Norway so quickly after I had political talks in China is very positive and shows the importance of visits to promote Norway's interests,” Næss said in a press release. “Live snow crab is of increasing interest in Asian markets, and market access to China represents enormous potential for Norwegian exporters. This can further strengthen profitability and create increased activity in the Norwegian land industry.”
Norway has been increasingly targeting the Chinese market, and the country’s seafood industry has continued to grow its sales in China, according to data from the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC).
Sigmund Bjorgo, head of the NSC’s office in China, told SeafoodSource the latest move by China will be a “very important step” in building more markets for Norway’s snow crab fishery.
According to the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries, roughly 10 percent of Norway’s total snow crab quota has been set aside for the delivery of live crab. It also said the directorate of fisheries has held a consultation on how to regulate the catch of snow crab in 2025, “including input on the proportion of sales allocated to the delivery of live snow crab.”
“The Chinese market is currently dominated by Russian snow crab, and for this season, we will work closely with the Norwegian industry to learn more about the market and how to position the Norwegian snow crab in China,” Bjorgo told SeafoodSource.
Russia has taken note of Norway’s push to enter the market.
According to the All-Russian Association of the Fishing Industry (VARPE), which posted about Norway’s efforts on its telegram channel, Russia currently accounts for 30 percent of China’s crab imports but 59 percent of the value of China’s crab imports.
“The imbalance is explained by the fact that Russia supplies premium types of live crab at a high price,” VARPE said.
VARPE President German Zverev said Norway’s push into China is a sign of larger trends in the seafood industry.
"Many processes that are currently taking place in the global fisheries industry, including opening access to China for Norwegian live crab, can be described in one word – diversification. Both importers and exporters are interested in it,” Zverev said.
The key difference, he said, is the logic behind that diversification. For China, the goal is to get a lower price, while Norway wants to get a higher price by diversifying its exports since it is currently exporting mainly to the competitive U.S. market.
Zverev said the Russian government should do more to maintain the crab industry’s competitiveness with other countries.
“Russia also needs to step up work on opening and obtaining, if not preferences, at least equal conditions for competition in key countries,” he said.
Doing so will be especially important as Russia’s access to the E.U. market shrinks, Zverev added.
“It is obvious that in the near future, supplies of Russian fish to the E.U. will decrease under the pressure of both European import duties and domestic export duties,” he said. “So, the main destination for fish and seafood from Russia should be the countries of the Global South interested in supplies of affordable and high-quality products.”
