Marianne Sivertsen Naess, Norwegian Minister of Fisheries, said recently that Norway is expected to export live snow crabs to China in the near future, following talks with Chinese officials during a visit to Beijing.

According to Naess, China is the world's largest consumer market for live snow crabs, but there are no Norwegian imports yet. After talks with Chinese customs officials, it is expected that a regulatory license will eventually be granted.

“There is still some regulatory work to be done by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, but we have received very positive signals from China that we are close to getting approval for our products,” Naess said.

In 2025, the Norwegian government allocated 10 percent of the total snow crab fishing quota to live crab exports, aiming to expand market access to Asia. Norwegian analysts point out that access to the Chinese market will greatly improve the overall profitability of the Norwegian snow crab industry, potentially replicating some of the success of Norwegian live king crab exports to Asia.

The Norwegian side also said that in the ministerial talks with China also involves more seafood trade issues, the two sides agreed to start the implementation of seafood exports of electronic health certificates.