Furious about last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in Oslo to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, Beijing has taken aim at Norway’s emblematic salmon, plunging exports to the Asian giant into freefall.
China a year ago blasted the Nobel committee’s decision to honour someone it considered a “criminal” and said the choice would “damage” Norway’s relations with Beijing.
It has since vented its anger by ordering stricter veterinary controls on Norwegian salmon — analysis so time-consuming that the fresh fish has ended up rotting in Chinese warehouses, according to industry officials.
“We expected our exports to China to increase by 30 to 40 per cent this year. That didn’t happen,” Christian Chramer, spokesman for Seafood Norway, said.
That is an understatement: sales of fresh Norwegian salmon were halved in the first eight months of the year.
The drop was particularly noticeable immediately after the Nobel Prize ceremony in December 2010: Norway’s exports totalled 1,000 tonnes in December, falling to just 315 tonnes in January, then 75 tonnes in February.
In order to circumvent the obstacles put up by Beijing, fish farmers have shipped their products destined for mainland China first to Hong Kong. But this loophole has also now largely been closed.
— AFP