Finnair expects to double shipments of Atlantic salmon from Norway to China and Japan to 600 tons a week by 2020, the carrier's cargo chief Juha Jarvinen told Bloomberg, naming just one luxury item being air freighted from Europe.
"Salmon is our biggest growing cargo," he said. "We could double that with the increase in the middle-class in China."
Said Helsinki based Evli Bank analyst Mikko Ervasti: "Demand for European goods is growing in Asia and for some categories fast air cargo is the only viable option."
China already has the world's largest middle class, with 11 per cent of the population consuming between US$10 and $100 a day, still behind Brazil and South Korea, according to World Bank data.
In urban areas, the middle class is forecast to grow to 75 per cent of the Chinese population by 2022. This is up from four per cent in 2000, according to a June 2013. By 2022, urban Chinese will earn between $9,600 to $37,000 a year.
Finnair, offering the shortest flights from Europe and northeast Asia, said it hopes to double flights to Asia by 2020. It now flies to Hong Kong, Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Xian, Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.
Fish is also the biggest food export to China by Air France-KLM Group, but France also does a high China volume in the annual mass international export of Beaujolais Nouveau.
Said CIMB Group Holdings analyst Andrew Orchard: "Chinese are quite brand conscious, especially the more affluent. Food is a big thing. You can look at any type of luxury or expensive food and you will be seeing a pick up."
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