Russian Fishery Company plans massive sales of pollock fillet and surimi in China
Russian Fishery Company (RFC) and the largest import and export company COFCO Food Import have signed a letter of intent aimed at promoting and developing sales of pollock fillets and surimi in the Chinese market of RRPC, reports Megafishnet.com.
According to RFC, the company will become a strategic supplier of high-quality deep-processed pollock products (fillets and surimi) for COFCO. In its turn, COFCO will become a strategic importer and distributor of RFC fillets and surimi in mainland China. The expected annual sales volume is 50 thousand metric tons. The parties plan to achieve that goal by 2024.
The official signing ceremony was attended by high-rank officials from the RFC and COFCO, as well as the Russian-Chinese Business Council. The document was signed by Savely Karpukhin, First Deputy Director General of RFC, and Tianxiu Bai, CEO of COFCO Far East.
"The signing of the agreement between COFCO Food Import and the Russian Fishing Company is another important step in the development of Russian-Chinese business cooperation. Every year the partnership of our countries grows stronger and develops. More and more projects of various levels are being successfully implemented through the joint efforts of the Russian and Chinese sides. Members of the Russian-Chinese Business Council, in particular, the RFC, make an important contribution in this direction," said Evgeny Markin, Executive Director of the Russian-Chinese Business Council.
"COFCO Far East is one of the directions of business development of COFCO Far East Co., Ltd., which helps specialized companies in importing Russian high-quality food products (including seafood). The Russian Fishery Company is a leader in this field. We are ready to provide the necessary support in business cooperation, as well as in promoting high-quality products on the Chinese market," said COFCO Far East CEO Tianxiu Bai.
"Due to the ever-growing consumer demand, we adhere to the "made for China" principle and offer high-quality Russian deep-processed pollock from high-quality raw materials that best meets the interests of new and old COFCO customers and partners," said Mr. Mengze Liu, CEO of COFCO Food Import.
Cooperation with a leading Chinese partner will allow RRPC to ensure quality control of products for the Chinese market at all stages, from the catch to the final consumer.
"The Chinese market has always been and remains one of the highest priorities for RFC. Partnership with COFCO will significantly advance the development of sales of value added pollock products in this market. Chinese consumers are paying more and more attention to the issues of environmental friendliness, naturalness and health benefits, and RFC is pleased to offer them products from wild whitefish caught in one of the cleanest water basins in the world, with the highest consumer properties and at an affordable price," said First Deputy Director General of RRPC Savely Karpukhin. – We are confident that COFCO's experience and reputation in the Chinese market will provide good prospects for our products in China, and together we will be able to reach an ambitious level of annual sales of 50 thousand tons of products by 2024."
The start of surimi production by the Russian Fishing Company became possible thanks to the construction of a new fleet of modern super trawlers and the commissioning of the first such vessel, the Vladimir Limanov. In 2021 it is planned to produce 4-5 thousand tonnes of new product. Production volumes will grow with the commissioning of the supertrawlers under construction.
As previously reported, RFC continues to develop sales of deep-processed pollock products also in the domestic market. In particular, in order to raise sales of pollock fillets on the Russian market, a long-term contract was signed with Fish Processing Plant No. 1 (ROK-1). The parties plan to sell on at least 10 thousand tons of consumer products made from pollock fillets on the Russian market starting from 2023.