Imported Fresh Chilled Salmon Prices Plunge Off a Cliff, Industry Caught Completely Off Guard!
Due to changes in WeChat's rules, we welcome you to add the Frozen Food Guide official account as a starred account, or click "Like" or "Wow" at the bottom of the article, to see the exciting content pushed by Frozen Food Guide every day
Imported Fresh Chilled Salmon Prices Plunge Off a Cliff, Industry Caught Completely Off Guard!
Wholesale Prices Plummet to the 60 Yuan Range
In late June 2025, after several consecutive months of high growth, China's salmon market suddenly suffered a severe price correction. In just four days, from June 20 to June 24, wholesale prices of imported fresh chilled salmon generally fell by 12 to 20 yuan/kg, and mainstream distribution channels in multiple cities fell into price chaos. Clearance prices for fish with older dates dropped below 70 yuan/kg, with some low prices even quoted in the 60-plus yuan range.
The cities with the most obvious price fluctuations included Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In the Guangzhou market, Faroe Crown 5-6 kg规格 produced on the 22nd was quoted at 90 yuan/kg, while Norwegian product (6-8 kg) produced on the 16th had fallen to 82 yuan/kg. In the Shanghai market, Norwegian plant 82, 6-7 kg规格 was quoted at 83 yuan/kg, and the same规格 from Scotland, Iceland and Chile production areas were also generally below previous average prices, with the lowest quotes falling to 76 yuan, and some tail-end products even traded at around 60 yuan.
Large Volumes of Supply Arrive at High Levels
Distributors Forced into Loss-Making Dumping
Many industry practitioners reported that the speed and magnitude of this round of decline far exceeded expectations. In a short period, large quantities of previously high-cost imported products were forced to be shipped at a loss. One wholesaler said that the current loss per case of fresh chilled salmon could reach 400 to 500 yuan, and some stalls with concentrated arrivals even saw entire truckloads of goods suffer overall losses.
May Import Volume Hits a New High for the Year
Supply Far Exceeds the Pace of Absorption
This price decline is not an isolated event; behind it is the concentrated release of a round of high-intensity imports. According to data published by the General Administration of Customs of China, in May 2025, China imported a total of 11,100 tonnes of fresh chilled Atlantic salmon, a year-on-year surge of 66%, the largest increase since 2024. Including frozen products, total Atlantic salmon imports in May were 11,300 tonnes. This was also the fourth time in 2025 that monthly imports broke the 10,000-tonne mark.
Among them, Norway remained the largest source country, exporting more than 7,100 tonnes to China in May, accounting for 70%; the United Kingdom followed with more than 2,000 tonnes, accounting for 18%; the Faroe Islands supplied a stable 890 tonnes, accounting for 8%. These three origins together accounted for 96% of the market share. By comparison, Chile and Australia had very small arrivals that month.
Compared with the high growth of fresh chilled products, frozen Atlantic salmon continued to perform sluggishly. May imports were only more than 200 tonnes, down 26% year-on-year, the lowest level of the year.
International Market Declines
Overseas Exporters Also Under Pressure
While supply grew substantially, international market prices also loosened noticeably. Recent farm quotes in Norwegian production areas have generally moved downward, with prices in some origins falling by 5 to 10 Norwegian kroner per kilogram. Quotes for 4-5 kg规格 were 58-65 kroner, and 5-6 kg规格 were 60-69 kroner, below the earlier expected costs of exporters. Some farms outside the north even began selling accumulated fish at below cost.
Norwegian exporters generally believe that inventory pressure is currently high and the market cannot absorb large volumes of fish in the short term. Due to the obvious price decline, some customers postponed orders, and air freight sales were also affected. One exporter said they could lose about 300,000 Norwegian kroner (about US$29,700) per truckload.
Terminal Wait-and-See and Holiday Processing Interruption
Aggravate the Difficulty of Destocking
At the same time, Poland, a major processing country, was in the middle of a holiday period, and processing capacity contracted temporarily, which also aggravated the blockage of upstream shipments and the mismatch in the global supply and demand rhythm.
In the Chinese market, demand was affected by the psychology of "buying on rising prices, not falling ones," and terminal channels began to slow the pace of ordering. Meanwhile, goods imported in concentrated batches in weeks 24 and 25 were arriving one after another, and wholesale market inventories continued to accumulate, directly triggering large-scale clearance and price-cutting shipments.
108,000 Cases Arrive in a Single Week
May Set a Record High for Exports to China
According to monitoring, in week 25 alone, Norway exported more than 2,100 tonnes of fresh chilled salmon to China, equivalent to about 108,000 cases, an increase of 21,000 cases week-on-week. That week's export volume not only hit a new high for 2025, but may even be the highest single-week export record to China in history.
This batch of fish arriving at high levels is still entering the market one after another, and against the backdrop of current low prices, it is expected to continue to weigh on the market.
Market Enters a Stage of Disorderly Dumping
Quotes Lose Their Reference Significance
At present, the market quotation system has lost any unified standard, and transaction prices depend entirely on individual distributors' destocking capacity and financial pressure tolerance. Most importers generally face difficulties in cash recovery and worsening losses, and the wholesale market as a whole has fallen into a state of continuous adjustment.
For more articles, please click to read