Sashimi Popularity in China Shows Growth Opportunities for Imported Salmon

Sashimi has emerged as a key opportunity in China’s rapidly expanding salmon market. This is being driven by rising in-home consumption, fast delivery services and the parallel growth of factories providing sashimi-grade salmon to meet demand.

Highlighting the Top Seafood Trends 2026: The China Report, we take a look at the surge in consumption of seafood in China, and the trends influencing how consumers discover, purchase and consume it – and how it accelerates the market’s growth.

Post-Covid consumption shift

China’s imported salmon category grew 50% in 2025. Alongside this growth, one of the biggest changes in how salmon is consumed has been the post-Covid shift towards in-home consumption, particularly of sashimi.

Online retail and delivery services have helped enable this shift. Consumers can order freshly prepared sashimi from sashimi-certified factories and specialized fresh cut sashimi stores, where salmon is sliced on demand before being dispatched for delivery.

The growth of fresh cut stores and factories approved to prepare sashimi-grade salmon is helping supply keep pace with demand. This availability is no longer limited to China’s largest cities, with consumers in tier-two and tier-three cities increasingly able to access the same quality and convenience.

According to NSC Country Director for China Sigmund Bjørgo: “I’ve experienced first-hand how effectively China’s delivery network serves the sashimi market. Salmon ordered to my apartment can arrive within 25 minutes, carefully packaged and in excellent condition.

“That combination of speed and care helps preserve the quality and freshness consumers expect from Norwegian salmon. It makes sashimi easier to enjoy at home and means the product can arrive as fresh as if consumers had bought it themselves at the supermarket.”