(Yicai Global) March 2 -- Sales of Norwegian salmon in China more than doubled in January from a year earlier, as China’s food and beverage sector bounces back with the lifting of the country's zero-Covid policy.

Norway exported 4,017 tons salmons to China in January, a gain of over 60 percent from a year ago, while sales jumped 106 percent, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council.

Andreas Thorud, director of the council’s China arm, told Yicai Global that he has never seen such fast growth before and he believes that it is largely due to the strong recovery of the F&B sector. Before the pandemic, between 80 percent and 90 percent of salmon sold in the country was by the F&B sector, Yicai Global learned from an industry insider.

Customs clearance measures have also been simplified, which helps, Thorud said. Before, imported cold-chain food needed to be disinfected and tested for the novel coronavirus at designated warehouses, greatly lengthening the import process, but since Dec. 26, these rules have been relaxed.

Certainly, Chinese people’s appetite for seafood has risen dramatically since the end of the Covid-19 curbs. Seafood orders to Vietnam have been soaring this year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers. China is likely to be a major export destination for Vietnamese companies in 2023, it added.

Imports of seafood and fresh-cut flowers through Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, China’s biggest air freight hub, surged by double digits in January, the month when Chinese New Year fell, from a year earlier.

Some 330 tons of live king crabs were brought into the country through Shanghai by fishing vessels in the first two months, and the number of such ships has already reached that of the whole of last year, the Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection said.

Editors: Shi Yi, Kim Taylor