Belarusian seafood export and import statistics in January 2009

In January 2009 import of fish, shellfish and mollusks to Belarus has considerably decreased, reports http://www.fishnet-russia.com/ (https://www.fishnet.ru/) with reference to Belstat.

More specifically, the import of fish, shellfish and mollusks to Belarus amounted to 2252 tonnes at a total value of more than USD5 million, dramatically down from the same period of 2008.

More specifically, the import volume of this product group accounts for 22.3% of the same period of January 2008 while the import value decreased to 27.3% of the last year figure.

The greater part of the fish (2126 tonnes) was imported from the non-CIS countries. The share of this import in comparison with January 2008 reached 22.6%. Russia supplied 127 tonnes of seafood products that accounts for 18.1% of the same period of the previous year, according to the Belarusian Customs.

In the year 2008 the share of Russian supplies to Belarus decreased and it seems that this tendency will continue through 2009 year as well.

Export

In January 2009 seafood export from Belarus amounted to 187 tonnes and of which 138 tonnes were supplied to the Russian market. Despite the financial crisis the export of fish, shellfish and mollusks came up by 10.3% in volume. Export to the Russian Federation grew by 4.6%.

In January 2009 Belarusian export value of canned fish decreased by USD10 million. At the same time import value of frozen fish products (including frozen fillets) significantly came down by USD14.3 million.

As for retail sector, in January - February 2009 the share of sold imported fish and non-finfish products amounted to 53.9% (down from the level of 56.7% in the same period of 2008). The share of domestic products in retail sector amounted to 46.1% and 43.3% correspondingly. The total sales of fish and non-finfish products in January - February 2009 reached 12500 tonnes, drastically down from 83,300 tonnes in the same period 2008.