Big Fish, Big Market

PRNewswire December 27, 2024

BEIJING, Dec. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — A report by China Report ASEAN: 

Salmon industry insiders and consumers shared insights and analysis on the salmon market and consumption at the 7th Global Salmon Industry Development Summit. An important component of the 18th Shanghai International Fisheries Expo, the event attracted more than 100 salmon farming companies from around the globe to exchange views on the current situation and future development of the industry.

China’s salmon market has grown rapidly with the consumption upgrade, the rise of a new generation of consumption power, and the gradual enhancement of consumer awareness about healthy and nutritious food in China’s third- and fourth-tier cities. After decades of development, salmon has gradually risen from obscurity to become quite popular.

“In 2023, China was the fastest-growing market for Atlantic salmon consumption in the world, consuming a total of 108,128 tons of Atlantic salmon, a year-on-year increase of 32,597 tons or 43 percent, making the Chinese Atlantic salmon market the eighth largest in the world,” reported Sigmund Bjorgo, the Norwegian Seafood Council’s Country Director in China, at the summit.

And in the Chinese market, controversies about salmon have been persistent. Heavily-viewed online forums have debated topics such as whether rainbow trout should be considered salmon or eaten raw, which reflects increasing consumer concern for food security.

Defining Salmon

The Chinese term for salmon first originated in Hong Kong. “Short-Lived Trout” was an article published in Hong Kong’s Chinese Student Weekly in 1957. The author wrote at the beginning of the article: “Trout, also known as salmon, is usually used to make canned food.” The article also mentioned that the salmon off the west coast of Canada could measure four or five feet long and weigh 90 pounds.

The salmon found off the west coast of Canada are mainly Pacific salmon, including the species of Chinook/King, Coho/Silver, Chum/Dog, Sockeye/Red, and Pink/Humpy. The “salmon” in the article referred to the species that were most frequently canned at the time.

Zheng Weizhong, director of the salmon branch of the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance, has been engaged in marine biology research and practice for more than 40 years. According to him, salmon is the common name for different species of fish in the family Salmonidae, and the Chinese term for salmon is a Cantonese phonetic transliteration of the English word. 

In biological classification, the family Salmonidae includes about 200 fish species in 11 genera, with Oncorhynchus and Salmo having the greatest population. Pacific salmon and rainbow trout both belong to the genus Oncorhynchus. However, Norwegian salmon, or Atlantic salmon, which is better known to Chinese consumers, belong to the genus of Salmo.

In the 1960s, when wild Atlantic salmon were teetering on the verge of extinction due to large-scale oceanic fishing, aquatic farming of Atlantic salmon began in Norway. To gain access to the Asian market, Norwegians introduced new methods to serve salmon, including sashimi—serving thin slices of raw fish alongside sauce. In 1985, Atlantic salmon first reached Japan, Hong Kong, and other Asian markets. Around the same time, China began to study rainbow trout farming because the species seemed more suitable for the aquaculture environment in regions such as Qinghai, Yunnan, and Xinjiang. Under the guidance of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and foreign experts, the scale of fish farming gradually expanded.

Chinese consumers consider Atlantic salmon delicious and appreciate its high levels of protein, Omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin D. Gradually, it climbed to the top of the salmon import list. Around 2000, Norwegian Atlantic salmon accounted for nearly 90 percent of China’s salmon imports. So to Chinese consumers, the term “salmon” generally refers to Norwegian Atlantic salmon.

Consumers’ Right to Know

With the expansion of the salmon market, some irregularities emerged. Some merchants sold lower-priced rainbow trout as Atlantic salmon, some made sashimi with fish that was not fit for raw consumption, and others sold products of inferior quality. In 2018, China Central Television released a video entitled “Surprise! A Third of the Salmon in the Chinese Market Comes from the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.” The video went viral on the internet and sparked another round of heated debate on whether rainbow trout can be called salmon and eaten raw. Zheng Weizhong commented that it was not only a controversy over the terming of commodities, but also represented urgent demand from consumers for the establishment of relevant market norms. 

Wang Xin, a businessman involved in salmon wholesaling at Beijing’s Xinfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market, claimed that Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout have similar nutrient content. However, since Chinese consumers prefer food richer in oil, Atlantic salmon is more highly sought after. Higher demand coupled with a higher transportation cost causes the market price for Atlantic salmon to be higher. In Norway and other European and American countries, consumers prefer rainbow trout because it tastes more tenacious with lower oil content. Therefore, the market price of rainbow trout is higher there. Zheng Weizhong agreed with this assessment and dubbed the controversy over naming salmon a special phenomenon affecting certain regions.

In 2018, the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance released the Group Standards of Salmon for Raw Consumption, which provided an explanation of the scope of salmon and required labeling for pre-packaged products including the origin and specific species of raw fish.

Zheng indicated that standards set under the guidance of governments focus on ensuring basic standards, while standards set by the market focus on improving competitiveness. Therefore, market-oriented group standards tend to be more stringent than national standards. However, since group standards are not compulsory, no one expects full compliance from every company. Standards cannot be effective without external pressure and supervision.

In some local markets, labels of “Salmo salar/Atlantic salmon” are found on the packaging of imported salmon. In some large supermarkets, labels on the packaging of unprocessed chilled or frozen salmon also indicate the origin and species. However, similar labels are not available on processed sashimi or sushi products.

In Japan, salmon is also very popular. According to a survey released by ANN News in April 2024, salmon has been the most popular sushi fish for 12 consecutive years in Japan. However, due to environmental constraints, most of the salmon served in Japan is imported. According to the Japanese Ministry of Finance, in 2023, Japan’s total imports of salmon and trout reached 202,000 tons, worth 258.2 billion yen (equivalent to US$1.78 billion), ranking first among all imported marine products. In contrast, Japan’s domestic production of salmon and trout was only around 10,000 tons in 2022.

Xu Hui, a long-time Tokyo resident, said that Japan has relatively strict regulations on the origin of raw materials. Therefore, the salmon sold in supermarkets are clearly marked with their origin, but the salmon served in restaurants are simply called “salmon,” without detailed information on species. Zheng thinks that the situation is similar in European and American markets. Different countries have contrasting methods of differentiating species of fish, but the international norm is to clearly indicate the origin of salmon to protect consumers’ rights to know and choose. 

Food Safety

Transparency of origin is actually a guarantee for food safety. Sashimi is one of the most popular ways of serving salmon. But many consumers are concerned about the health risks associated with raw consumption.

Zheng Weizhong explained that parasites are inevitable in nature, meaning that parasites are a potential risk to freshwater fish and seafood alike.

When the parasite eggs in water are swallowed by intermediate hosts such as snails, fish, and shrimp, they can infect people who consume the hosts. In a freshwater environment, the most common parasite is clonorchis sinensis, also known as liver fluke. In sea water, the most common parasite is mitochondria. Due to different osmotic pressure, it’s difficult for mitochondria to exist in human bodies for a long time. Infected patients suffer from acute abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting, but few die, leading to a misunderstanding among some consumers that marine fish do not have parasites.

To prevent the risk of infection, full control over the growth process of fish can ensure the spread of parasites is blocked. Or, it is necessary to process fish products with very low or very high temperatures to kill parasites.

Most of the salmon now in markets comes from aquaculture. According to Salmon World 2023 released by Kontali, a Norwegian seafood data analysis company, global farmed salmon production in 2023 was about 2.2 million tons, accounting for about two thirds of global salmon output. Globally, a general practice to control the risk of parasites is to control the fodder and water source while breeding and to prevent contact with other organisms.

Located at the Longyang Gorge Reservoir in northwest China’s Qinghai Province, the production base of Longyang Zhixian (Qinghai) Company has a capacity to produce over 10,000 tons of rainbow trout annually, accounting for nearly half of the country’s total production, which makes it the largest salmon farm in China. More than 200 submerged cages for fish culture are distributed in 383 square kilometers of water.

In a briefing, Luo Fang, executive deputy general manager of Longyang Zhixian, explained that the high-quality water in Longyang Gorge Reservoir does not freeze all year round, so it offers a suitable environment for the culture of rainbow trout. The fodder is an artificial feed produced by a Dutch company with high-temperature expansion, which prevents the risk of parasites at the source while ensuring sufficient nutrition for the fish. The submerged cages isolate the cultured fish from wild fish, blocking the transmission of parasites.

Zheng Weizhong offered a reminder for shoppers for salmon for raw consumption: Look for product standard number GB10136 compliance. China’s GB10136-2015 National Food Safety Standard – Aquatic Products of Animal Origin requires cysticercosis, C. elegans larvae, and cercariae tapeworms to be detected in animal aquatic products. TheGroup Standards of Salmon for Raw Consumption also mandates that artificial feed with high-temperature expansion be used throughout the process and that the raw material without parasite control measures at the source should be frozen below -20˚C for at least 24 hours, or below -35˚C for 15 hours.

Similar international regulations exist. The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) requires that fish for raw consumption should be frozen at -20˚C for no less than 24 hours. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that fish for raw consumption should meet one of the following three conditions: frozen at -20˚C for seven consecutive days; stored below -35˚C for 15 hours; frozen solid at -35˚C and stored below -20˚C for 24 hours.

Technological Breakthroughs

In recent years, China’s market demand for salmon has grown continuously. However, its domestic aquaculture has hardly been able to meet the demand. So, it still relies heavily on imports. According to the General Administration of Customs, China imported more than 93,000 tons of Atlantic salmon in 2023, up 46 percent year on year, including 80,000 tons of frozen Atlantic salmon, up 63 percent year on year. China has now overtaken Japan and South Korea as Norway’s largest market for frozen Atlantic salmon in Asia. The main factor that hinders the development of China’s salmon industry is technology.

Xia Siyuan, assistant general manager of Longyang Zhixian, said that the rainbow trout they breed are cultivated triploids, which are fairly big in size, weighing roughly four kilograms. The species has reduced the energy loss due to gonadal development, avoided problems such as declining meat quality during the spawning season, and shortened the breeding cycle. His company has built a whole industrial chain integrating incubation, fry cultivation, breeding, processing, and sales. However, they still have to import eggs from abroad.

Zheng Weizhong thinks that the stable supply of quality fry is a major challenge for salmon breeding. Fry cultivation companies can cultivate species with excellent genetic features through scientific methods and genetic control techniques to ensure that those features are passed on to future generations.

The Heilongjiang Fishery Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences has succeeded in acquiring the triploid technology, filling the gap in China’s rainbow trout breeding industry. However, they are still struggling to achieve mass production of fish eggs. Therefore, 80-90 percent of the triploid rainbow trout eggs available in China are still imported from abroad. Zheng suggested that since salmon is not a native species of China, it will take a long time to build a large gene pool for the development of the industry.

In terms of breeding technology, a shortage of domestic cold water resources means deep-sea aquaculture will be a promising direction for breakthroughs in salmon production. At the moment, land-based salmon aquaculture is mainly distributed in Qinghai, Zhejiang, and Xinjiang, while sea cage salmon farming is distributed off the coast of Qingdao, Yantai, and other locations.

Deep Blue No. 1, a fish farm established in Qingdao to overcome technical difficulties hindering the breeding of Atlantic salmon in low-latitude areas, successfully harvested the first batch of deep-sea Atlantic salmon on June 21, 2021. With suitable water temperature, the farm is expected to harvest 300,000 salmon fish every year, with an output of over 1,500 tons, which is worth more than 100 million yuan (US$14.25 million). Last June, Shandong Jinghai Fishery Company successfully harvested 600 tons of rainbow trout bred in the deep sea, marking the success of an innovative technology for transferring rainbow trout from land-based fresh water into sea cages.

In May 2024, Cui He, president of the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance, remarked at the 2024 Salmon Production and Marketing Conference that although China has become increasingly advanced in its production modes including modern equipment, land-based recirculating aquaculture, and deep-sea aquaculture, considerable room still remains to expand salmon production. 

At the 18th Shanghai International Fisheries Expo, a Chinese salmon booth attracted a heavy flow of visitors. Chinese salmon has already been exported to countries and regions including Russia, Japan, and the European Union. Last March, Qinghai salmon was officially approved to be exported in large quantities to Mongolia and Singapore. Xia Siyuan said that because of the persisting large gap between supply and rapidly-growing demand in the domestic market, his company’s focus will remain on the domestic market in the short term. Zheng Weizhong concluded that the threshold for salmon aquaculture is fairly high in terms of environment, capital, and technology. For the Chinese salmon industry to compete in the international market, it has to overcome obstacles and make breakthroughs in technologies of fry cultivation and breeding as well as the layout of the whole industrial chain.

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