Norwegian exports to China plummet following Nobel Peace Prize for Liu Xiaobo

Christian Pérez According to the information published by Financial Times, experts say the decline was caused by the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in October 2010 to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo, a jailed Chinese dissident. "It is no secret that declining sales in China are connected to the Nobel Peace Prize. This is a difficult political situation between Norway and China, and not something that can be solved by the industry," told Alf-Helge Aarskog, CEO of Marine Harvest. Norway exported 11,000 tonnes of salmon to China in 2010, while the UK sold just 510 tonnes and the Faroes none, according to data from the Norwegian Seafood Council. But in the first six months of 2013, the UK exported 4,600 tonnes, the Faroes 4,000 and Norway 3,700. "Short term, now one goes bankrupt right now," said Sigmund Bjørgo, the council's director for China, pointing to increased salmon prices that have offset the drop in market share. But, he added: "China is expected to grow by 20 percent annually and last year it was 40 percent. We are in a phase of growth and producers are positioning themselves. We are losing our competitive edge."