Booming Chinese demand and lower harvest volumes is giving a lift to farmed salmon prices, sources told IntraFish.

Larger sized salmon has suffered from weak demand in recent weeks, but a jump in demand from the Asian giant for fish over 6 kilos -- the most coveted size in the country -- is pushing up prices to as high as NOK 57 per kilo, a 20% rise from last week.

While some traders said it was early to predict which way prices would go next week, most put levels at between NOK 52-54, a slight lift over last week.

Sales went well this week, one exporter said, but prices measured in euros are up 70-80 cents, pushing prices up to over €5, "which can be a little difficult for buyers to accept."

"The markets vary, though," he said. "That's perfectly OK in some places, but in others, that's a challenge."

The exporter said he's only buying the bare minimum needed in this climate.

"This is not the market for taking large positions," he said.

One foreign buyer said Norwegian salmon farmers are getting overly ambitious with their price expectations.

"Prices might be up a little bit, but it's nonsense that there is lower volumes of large fish," he said.

He noted that both the Faroe Islands and Scotland have plenty of larger-sized salmon for the market.

Prices

China's farmed salmon market reawakens, driving up prices