Scottish salmon graces China dining tables

China has a fast-growing appetite for fresh and smoked salmon, but Scotland's fish farmers have been struggling to keep up with demand from the lucrative market.

Scotland is one of the world's major suppliers of farmed salmon, but the industry's growth was recently hampered by sea lice infestations that led to a drop in production. Sea lice are a parasite that latches onto fish, seriously affecting their growth.

Figures from the United Kingdom's HM Revenue and Customs showed the export volume of salmon to China fell from around 11 million kilograms in 2015 to 8 million kg last year, something the industry attributed to the sea lice outbreak. In 2014, some 13 million kg of the pink-fleshed fish were shipped to the world's second-largest economy.