Norway's seafood industry values CIIE platform

High-profile fair offers opportunities to expand Chinese market

Looking to introduce more Chinese consumers to its products while strengthening bilateral exchanges, the Norwegian Seafood Council has announced its participation in November's sixth China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

This marks the council's second appearance at the expo. Last year, it made a three-minute video to introduce the expo and organized eight export-oriented Norwegian seafood companies to participate in the event.

Norway's market layout is different from China's, but that hasn't discouraged the Scandinavian country's seafood companies from opening offices here to promote a variety of products specially selected for the Chinese market, including salmon, shellfish and king crab. For example, at last year's expo C Food Norway AS showcased fish gelatin obtained from Atlantic cod, which proved to be very popular among Guangdong consumers.

According to the council, its participation in the fifth CIIE, the first major international expo held in the country since the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, helped boost Norway's seafood exports to China by 21 percent year-on-year over the first half of this year, hitting a record high.

The council's booth area for the sixth CIIE will cover 81 square meters, an increase of 30 percent compared with the previous session. Also, more companies will attend and more new products will be displayed.

The Norwegian Seafood Council is a marketing communication organization that works with the country's seafood industry to increase the value of its products in new and established markets all over the world. Andreas Thorud, the council's director of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong offices, said it is "very worthwhile "for the council to appear at the high-level CIIE, which is the world's foremost national-level expo with importation as its theme.

Currently, about 10 Norwegian seafood enterprises have set up offices or factories in China, and Thorud said the council is looking forward to more companies making strategic investments here.

From January to July, Norway exported 24,000 metric tons of salmon to China, up 65 percent year-on-year, and the sales value of those shipments reached 3.4 billion Norwegian krona ($314.2 million), surging 94 percent year-on-year, according to the council. China is now Norway's largest export destination of frozen salmon in Asia.

Thorud said that with the CIIE's help the council hopes to once again express its firm determination to be optimistic about the Chinese market at this year's expo. In October, the council plans to invite some Chinese social media bloggers to visit Norway and then share their impressions of its seafood industry at the sixth CIIE. The initiative aims to further promote the value of Norway as the origin of high-quality products and enhance the influence of local brands in the industry.

Moreover, Thorud said the council also wants to exchange and share knowledge about best practices of sustainable development and technological innovation so as to boost the high-quality development of China's maritime industry.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn