Fish industry news
X5 Group, a leading Russian food retailer, announces the launch of the 200th sushi point "A Lot of Salmon" in St. Petersburg and is planning launches in other cities of Russia.
According to the industry monitoring system, by December 5, 2022, the total Russian catch of aquatic biological resources amounted to more than 4.59 million metric tons.
Russia’s Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo), the Center for the Monitoring System of Fisheries and Communications, together with the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, brought a new service to the nation’s Public Services portal — for the approval of certificates for capture of aquatic biological resources and fish products from them meant for export to the European Union.
In 2021-2022 surimi production in Russia has been growing while new processor trawlers started operating on the grounds.
Russian Crab Group of companies has confirmed its crab fishery compliance with MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) standards for sustainable fishery.
Omega-Sea company based in Magadan has nearly completed construction of a state-of-the-art fish oil. As port end of November, the facility is 95% ready for commissioning.
According to Russia's Federal State Statistics Service, the nation's production of fresh or chilled fish fillets in October 2022 amounted to 385.9 metric tons, 24.9% down on October 2021 and 5.1% down on September 2022. The year-on-year rise in fish fillet production in January-October 2022 amounted to 23.5%.
Russia’s total catch of Alaska pollock in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas by November 17, 2022 amounted to 1.383 million metric tons, thus showing a 12% increase on the respective result of 2021. Herring catch was also on a rise – plus 19% YOY to 225 thousand tonnes.
Russia’s Federation Council approved the budget-forming law, which, among other things, extends until January 1, 2025 the exemption from the VAT on the import and sale of breeding livestock and fish products in the Russian Federation.
At a meeting on November 9, 2022, the State Duma adopted in the third, final reading a government bill prohibiting foreign vessels engaged in fishing and violating established rules from entering Russian seaports.
Vyvenskoye LLC, a resident of the Kamchatka ASEZ (Advanced Special Economic Zone), has completed the second stage of reconstruction and technical re-equipment of coastal fish processing facilities in the village of Vyvenka in the Olyutorsky district of the Kamchatka Territory, reports the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation.
At the end of October in Karelia (region in Northwest Russia), commercial farmers began harvesting commodity trout. The start of the 2022 season came the local fish farmers as a shock. As a result of the sanctions pressure, the domestic market was left without the main suppliers of fish feeds. Up to 85% of feeds were produced by EU companies who stopped shipments to Russia. In mid-November 2022 the industry insiders and experts were interviewed by the Russian media group RBC about the process of import substitution and their forecast for the sector’s future.
In the first nine months of 2022 output of fish products amounted to about 3.1 million tons, according to the provisional data from the governmental statistics agency Rosstat.
The new generation fishing vessel Vladimir Biryukov, built at the Tersane shipyard (Turkey) for the Okeanrybflot group of companies, is heading for her port of registry of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, according to VARPE.
The State Duma of the Russian Federation has adopted a bill that amends the Tax Code in terms of increasing the resource fees for the use of aquatic biological resources, according to Russia’s Federal Agency for Fishery.
The investments in the fishery sector has grown 2.7 times over 5 years and amounted to 77 billion rubles in 2021. The main incentive measure was the program of investment quotas and crab auctions with investment obligations, according to Russia's Federal Agency for Fisheries.
Fish from the Murmansk region may be delivered to the Middle East. This possibility is being discussed by experts of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the region. Additionally, they plan to change the logistics of supplies for the exporting enterprises, according to Izvestia.
For the nine months of 2022 total imports decreased in relation to the nine months of 2021, both in value and in absolute terms by 23% and 40%, respectively. The volume of imports decreased by 157 thousand tons and amounted to 237 thousand tons. The decrease is observed in all groups with the exception of finished fish products. The maximum reduction in value is recorded by surimi, according to Defa Group.
Russia’s fish exports in physical terms have increased by 7.4% since 2016, while in value terms – by 77%, to $ 6.6 billion, according to Russia’s Federal Fisheries Agency.
On November 10, 2022, the Captain Manzholin crab processor, a vessel of the CSa 5712P design series, which is being built by order of the Russian Crab company, was launched in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Russia.