Locals love for live seafood boosts imports from Norway

Steamed king crab from Norway [SEAFOOD FROM NORWAY]

Korea is one of the only countries with a system to import live crab all the way from Norway, according to the director of the Norwegian Seafood Council for Korea and Japan John Kvalheim.

Because consumers in Korea value high-end, fresh seafood, imports of Norwegian seafood has been growing. alive.

From January to October this year, exports of seafood from Norway to Korea increased by 34 percent on-year to reach almost 68,000 tons. The surge follows a 17 percent on-year increase from 2020. While a large portion of imports is mackerel and salmon, premium king crab is also popular.

“It can be quite demanding to [keep] them alive, and congratulations to Korea,” said Kvalheim during a press conference held by the Norwegian Seafood Council last month.

King crab from Russia is commonly used in restaurants, so the Norwegian Seafood Council decided to host some pop-up events in conjunction with local chefs and culinary talents in a bid to promote crab from Norway.

In an event held at Chez Alex in southern Seoul's Gangnam District, chef Park Jin-yong presented a French-style butter-grilled king crab leg dish while at Flavor Town in eastern Seoul's Seongdong District, chef Lee Tae-kyu prepared Asian style pepper crab.

More recently, the Norwegian Seafood Council collaborated with lifestyle magazine Maison Korea two weeks ago, to host the third annual king crab gourmet week at three different restaurants, such as Hwabingjang and Monsieur Benjamin in southern Seoul's Gangnam District and Cesta in central Seoul's Yongsan District.

The council is also preparing to introduce another variety of premium seafood next year — langoustine. Korea is now the 12th largest consumer of Norwegian seafood.

To make sure quality products are being exported from Norway, Korea has dispatched inspectors to the country, one of the only two countries to do so. The other country is Japan.

BY LEE SUN-MIN [summerlee@joongang.co.kr]