SalmonChile to use 60 Chinese “influencers” in the hope that demand in China will recover by the Chinese New Year (February 12th).
Chile’s salmon trade organisation SalmonChile is looking to rekindle China’a love of fish after a semester marked by the losses in the sector, it wrote in a press release.
“Prices have been asserted in recent weeks, we expect that trend to remain and that the recovery in markets will occur by the end of the year so that it can return to normal in 2021,” said SalmonChile president Arturo Clement.
Where domestic salmon has perhaps been most affected has been in China, where sales of this product fell dramatically — and remain low – after an outbreak of covid-19 was attributed with imported salmon. According to Clement, sales of this product in the Asian market are now about 20 per-cent of what was sold before the pandemic.
20 per-cent
To regain Chinese consumer confidence, SalmonChile, together with ten companies, has launched a digital marketing campaign with content on the main social media channels of the Asian country. The campaign involved an investment of more than USD 200,000 and will run for four months.
Signs of reactivation are seeing SalmonChile PresidentArturo Clément in the salmon industry. After a semester marked by the losses of much of the firms in the sector, Clément explains that the decline in the value of salmon was the main factor that caused the companies’ declines. “Prices have been asserted in recent weeks, we expect that trend to remain and that the recovery in markets will occur by the end of the year so that it can return to normal in 2021,” he said.
Where domestic salmon has perhaps been most affected has been in China, where sales of this product fell dramatically — and remain low – after an outbreak of covid-19 was attributed with imported salmon. According to Clement, sales of this product in the Asian market are now about 20% of what was sold before the incident.
Antarctica
The campaign is called “Chile Salmon: Freshness and Taste of Antarctica”, because the “Chinese have a very good view of Antarctica. The idea is to highlight the origin, freshness and safety of Chilean salmon,” said Clément.
This includes a plan with 60 influencers who will transmit their brand and product experience with national salmon on platforms such as TikTok, Kuaishou and Yizhibo. TikTok has around 700 million users.
“Influencers” in social media are people who have built a reputation for their knowledge and make regular posts on social media channels and generate large followings.
The goal is that demand in China will recovered by the Chinese New Year —February 12. “It is difficult, because in China there is too much nervousness on the issue of covid-19 and, moreover, the government is over-protected and creating uncertainty about food imports (…). It is very important that we can recover this market and inform the consumer well,” he added.
High harvests
In the United States, prices have also gone up and demand has grown. Clement says that this market has managed to absorb some of the volume destined for China. “It is remarkable how there has been a boost in demand at the retail level, household consumption has risen and that has been reflected in the sales of retailers that have grown by 25%. That’s going to help get the price back and stabilize this market,” he says.
Regarding salmon harvests for this year, Clément explained that they are probably a “slightly higher” than last year’s. “Here the impact more than on the quantity has been by falling prices. The crops have been maintained and we have managed to continue operating despite the pandemic. The industry has made a huge effort in terms of food security to maintain harvest levels,” he says.
