Capitalizing on China’s Twitter-like microblog service Weibo is among the tactics Norwegian salmon exporters are employing to revive sales in a market showing up to 30 percent annual growth. Sales have slipped this year after China brought in a new inspection regime, which was viewed as payback for the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s awarding of its peace prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Chinese media in May reported that Norwegian salmon exports to the Chinese mainland since the beginning of this year have dropped by 56 percent year-on-year, quoting statistics from the Norwegian Seafood Export Council. According to reports, Norway has exported 8,158 metric tons of salmon to the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong so far this year, representing a 9 percent drop in volume compared to last year.
Under its recently appointed China manager Sigmund Bjorgo, the Norwegian Seafood Export Council is clearly trying to regain momentum in China with novel consumer-focused marketing campaigns. A microblog on Sina.com, one of the country’s leading web portals, has been quick to catch on, said Bjorgo. Driven by more than 300 million ads on the portal, the blog has racked up 30,000 “friends” — Bjorgo hopes to get 600,000 visitors to the site as he seeks to push salmon sales around the traditional Chinese mid-Autumn Festival on 13 September.
Before the Nobel peace prize saga, Norwegian salmon exporters were on course to ship 30,000 metric tons of salmon a year to China by 2012, having grown sales here by between 20 to 30 percent a year. That success, said Bjorgo, has been largely down to “being able to deliver a stable and fresh supply.” Chile, by contrast, ships frozen salmon to China, explained Bjorgo, adding that Asian consumers are very particular about freshness. While more than 100 Norwegian firms are registered to export to Asia, only about 30 regularly ship product to the region.
Norway, which accounts for 65 percent of annual international salmon output, faces competition from Canada, Chile and, to a lesser extent, Australia and New Zealand. Even with such strong growth in salmon exports here, greater China accounts for only 1.5 percent of Norwegian output. Thus, keeping pace with such demand will not be a problem: “I’m not scared we won’t be able to supply rising demand,” said Bjorgo.
China, including Hong Kong, is the “first destination” in Asia for Norwegian seafood exports, yet, salmon aside, much of the product is re-exported, particularly to Japan. The spread of modern hypermarkets into China’s hinterlands has opened up opportunities for Bjorgo’s office — it has helped make salmon a top-three category in shops like Carrefour and Walmart through in-store trainings. The presence of restaurant-like sashimi concessions within such stores facilitates salmon sales, he added.
South China, in particular Shanghai and Guangdong, remain the most lucrative markets, alongside Hong Kong. Distribution, however, remains a challenge elsewhere, said Bjorgo. While Norwegian exporters typically sell directly to importers and wholesalers who handle the logistics, educating in-store staff is important to get sales volume to levels that justify the effort in extending logistics networks, explained Bjorgo.
“A half a fish each day is more difficult to get stock there than if you’re selling two fish a day,” he said.
The high turnover of retail staff in China means that trainers have to return frequently to stores. “In-store staff are taught how to handle fish and how to maximize the amount of fillets from each fish — they maybe don’t filet many other fish — as well as aspects of food safety. And, of course, they’re taught if you sell a lot of salmon you’ll make more money,” said Bjorgo.
Teaching consumers about salmon is also crucial to growing the market. The council is now also reaching consumers, with information on ways of cooking salmon. Leaflets inform consumers of salmon’s health benefits.
“There is a focus on the functional … more than in Europe, the sense that a food must be good for something,” said Bjorgo.
While Bjorgo’s office had previously promoted Norwegian herring, which along with mackerel and cod is processed in China, it’s keeping its focus on salmon for now. There was a slight dip in imports of fish for processing in 2011, said Bjorgo, a slip he attributes to rising prices of Norwegian product due to tighter supplies.
Aside from building an Internet presence, Bjorgo’s office is currently running a campaign targeting two Japanese restaurant chains, with in-house promotion material as well as training for chefs. Last year, the 10 millionth salmon sold to China was trucked on a national tour that finished at the Shanghai Expo.
Bjorgo acknowledged Chinese efforts to farm salmon locally but doesn’t see local product as a threat to Norway’s imports here. Norwegian quality comes from being the first country to farm salmon as well as having cold clean water — it may be too expensive to recreate such conditions in China, he noted.
Even as the Noble prize award continues to hamper exchanges between Beijing and Oslo, any opportunity to deliver Norway’s message of freshness isn’t being missed by Bjorgo, who hires merchandisers to visit stores around China to post “Seafood from Norway” labels on products.
“Heritage is very important in the long run, Chinese consumers should know Norway is a huge salmon producer and should know what they’re buying is Norwegian,” said Bjorgo.
