Drama unfolding at pollock roe auctions in Seattle and Pusan
A dramatic situation has been observed at the recent pollock roe auctions in Seattle (US pollock roe) and Pusan (Russian pollock roe), reports http://www.megafishnet.com/ (https://www.fishnet.ru/) with reference to emotional estimates of the US and Russian participants.
According to an informed source in Pusan, the US sellers have taken the recent sales in Seattle (on 18-19 March 2010) as a catastrophe. Similar reports on the results of the first day of auctions (on 23 March 2010) in Pusan have come about the Russian products with both prices and demand being dramatically low. The situation has been even more aggravated by the decision of the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency on extension of the Okhotsk pollock season until 20 April 2010, the measure to result into a further boost of already strong supply in the Russian pollock roe. More specifically, in the year 2010 the ban for the dedicated pollock fishery (offshore and inshore) in the North Okhotsk subarea has been approved from 20 April 2010 to 15 October 2010 (except for the vessels fishing in the inshore waters with pelagic trawls and Danish seines from 15 June 2010 to 15 October 2010).
No other information about progressing of the second round of Russian pollock roe auctions in Pusan (some sources say that the total pollock roe supply to be put up for sale at auction from 23 to 25 March 2010 amounts to 4500-5000 tonnes) has been available so far, but the common mood has been pessimistic as the supply on offer has jumped as much as 2.5 times as compared to the first round of auctions.
First round
The price results for the first round of Russian pollock roe auctions have also been gloomy. More specifically, on 2-4 March 2010 Pusan hosted the first round of Russian pollock roe auctions. Against tradition, the Russian pollock roe was put up for sale at the auctions prior to the start of auctions in Seattle, which could be evidently attributed to very large planned production. The buyers' bids were reported as very low.
In Pusan the roe products were offered by such companies as Pacific Andes, Turnif, Pilenga, Sakhalinleasingfleet, UTF and several other companies. The Japanese buyers were aggressively pressing for price reductions. Bid prices for graded roe were as low as 3-4 USD per kilo. However, the total sales through the week amounted to 1651 tonnes at the average price of 6.69 USD per kilo. At the same time, in many cases the prices were much lower as compared to the respective indications in 2009.