The most encouraging numbers in the final data released by Statistics Canada are those that show an emerging appetite for farm-raised salmon in China, with exports from British Columbia more than doubling over the previous high in 2012.
China is now B.C.’s second most important market next to the United States, which has historically been the sector’s primary export market, and remains so today.
Trade with Asia overall is up 38 per cent over the previous record in 2013 with B.C. exporting fresh farm-?raised salmon for the first time to South Korea, a market that shows great potential as Canada and South Korea implement the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
Overall, B.C. exported a record 54.4 M kilograms of farm-raised salmon to 11 countries.
“Demand for salmon raised in B.C. has never been higher,” said Jeremy Dunn, Executive Director, BC Salmon Farmers Association.
“The United States remains our most important trading partner, and will be so for some time, however we are encouraged at the market diversification and the prospects for growing demand in the future – particularly in Asia.”
