The Scottish salmon sector is unfazed by reports China could be about to increase its production of premium farmed salmon.
Industry body Salmon Scotland told The Grocer the Asian superpower remained an “important consumer market” after state-controlled media hailed a harvest from a mobile salmon farm as a way of boosting domestic supply.
As reported by People’s China Daily, the harvest of 3,000 Atlantic salmon from state-owned Qingdao Guoxin Group vessel Guoxin No 1 2-2 represented a “major boost for China’s offshore fish farming ambitions”.
The outlet added that it came after years of failed coastal farming trials, which have struggled due to sea temperatures and threats such as typhoons, algal blooms and pollution.
“Now, our own ocean farms can produce high-quality salmon too,” the ship’s technical and operations director Meng Guangwei said. The development also marked the world’s first commercial-scale production of salmonids on board a mobile fish farm.
In response, Salmon Scotland said: “All our fish is raised in the pristine waters of western and northern Scotland, and we are focused on the premium end of the international market, especially in China.”
Chinese consumers eat over 200,000 tonnes of salmon each year, however the country only produces 30%, according to People’s China Daily. Scottish producers have benefited from this with 12,711 tonnes of salmon, valued at £97m, exported to China from Scotland in 2025 alone.
“This important consumer market has rising demand for Scottish high-quality salmon, and our export companies are seeking this trend and continuing to grow,” Salmon Scotland added.
At the same time, earlier this week, Glasgow Prestwick Airport said it had facilitated the export of one million kilos of Scottish salmon since the start of 2026, following the launch of its Scotland to China seafood export service last September – backed by investment in new equipment, dedicated cool-chain personnel and temperature-controlled facilities for time-sensitive exports.
The airport added that Air China Cargo had increased its Prestwick-Chengdu service from four flights a week to a daily service in March, bringing the number of direct cargo flights to China from the airport to 15.
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