Regional market
South Asia
The fastest-growing salmon market with the least published guidance. Hospitality demand in India leads; import licensing and airfreight routing decide who actually gets supplied.
India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh buy Norwegian salmon almost entirely for hotels, restaurants and a growing premium retail and online-grocery segment in the metropolitan cities. Very little of the trade is documented in English for buyers, which is why the most searched questions from the region are about the price per kilo and how to import at all. The practical answers are unglamorous: an importer licence in the buyer’s own name, an approved cold store, airfreight into Mumbai, Delhi or Bengaluru with coolant sized for tarmac time, and a health certificate issued in the wording the destination authority accepts. A buyer who has those four in place can be quoted within days; one who does not cannot be quoted at all.
Most requested species
Atlantic salmon
Salmo salar
Norway’s largest seafood export. Continuous harvest, predictable size distribution, and airfreight to the main Asian and Gulf markets in one to three days.
- Season now
- Peak season
- Origin
- Farmed
- Condition
- Fresh, chilled · Frozen · Smoked
- Forms
- HOG · FLT · LOIN · PORT · VA
Fjord trout
Oncorhynchus mykiss
Deeper colour and firmer texture than salmon, in far smaller volume. A premium position where supply is the constraint, not demand.
- Season now
- Available
- Origin
- Farmed
- Condition
- Fresh, chilled · Frozen · Smoked
- Forms
- HOG · FLT · LOIN · PORT · VA
Atlantic cod
Gadus morhua
Barents Sea and Lofoten cod, quota-managed and MSC-certified. The skrei window from January to April is the year’s highest quality.
- Season now
- Available
- Origin
- Wild-caught · Farmed
- Condition
- Fresh, chilled · Frozen
- Forms
- WR · HG · FLT · LOIN · PORT · SPLT
Atlantic mackerel
Scomber scombrus
The autumn fishery delivers the highest fat content of the year. Graded strictly by weight for the Japanese and Korean trade.
- Season now
- Peak season
- Origin
- Wild-caught
- Condition
- Frozen
- Forms
- WR · FLT · FLAP
Preferred product forms
- Fresh HOG salmon 4–6 kg for hotel and restaurant filleting
- Fresh and frozen fillet, trim D, pin bone out, for portioning
- Frozen portions and loins for premium retail and online grocery
- Frozen whole mackerel for the processing trade
Certificate and document requirements
- Importer licence or registration in the buyer’s own name, valid for fish products
- Health certificate from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority in the wording the destination accepts
- Certificate of origin, commercial invoice, packing list and air waybill
- Food-safety clearance at the port of entry by the destination authority before release
Transport modes
- Airfreight from Oslo via a European or Gulf hub, 2–3 days door to door for fresh
- Reefer container via Suez to Nhava Sheva or Chennai for frozen volume
Typical door-to-door transit as quoted by forwarders, counted from collection at the plant to delivery at the buyer’s address, including export handling and import clearance under normal conditions. Customs holds, inspection sampling and missed connections are not included. Last reviewed 15 September 2026.
- Packing and sizes
- Insulated air cargo packaging with coolant sized for tarmac exposure in heat. English labelling with importer details as the destination authority requires; net weight declared without ice.
- Key ports
- Oslo · Mumbai · Delhi · Bengaluru · Nhava Sheva · Colombo
- Buyer categories
- Hotel, restaurant and catering importers and distributors
- Premium retail chains and online grocery
- Processors portioning and repacking for domestic retail
- Payment risk
- Documented per counterparty. First trades are normally against advance payment or a confirmed letter of credit; local-currency volatility is carried by whoever holds the currency exposure in the contract, so name it.
- Seasonal opportunity
- The wedding and tourist season from October to March is the demand peak; hospitality demand softens through the monsoon months. Plan airfreight capacity against the Indian calendar, not the Norwegian harvest curve.
- Working languages
- English · हिन्दी
- Time zone
- IST