Expectations of brisk holiday demand for frozen seafood failing to come true in Moscow
Closer to mid-December 2009 Moscow seafood traders have been reporting lack of turn-of-the-year market boom and respective sales rise as the seafood trade in the capital has been progressing stably enough without any products being in special focus, analysts of www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) concluded after analyzing the current situation on the market.
Seafood price ups and downs have actually rooted from other than demand factor. More specifically, as per the first week of December 2009 prices have been falling for cod, halibut, Baltic sprat and Baltic herring. The price rise has been observed for such products as herring 300+, mackerel 400-600 and 600+, haddock, pink salmon and squid. Stable prices have been reported for saury, blue whiting, salmon caviar, capelin and pollock.
Quotas 2010
As one of the most important events of the week, Russia's Federal Fisheries Agency has distributed capture quotas 2010 between the users of the Russian Far East, the North Fisheries Basin, the Azov and Black Sea Basin, as well as quotas for capture in the areas under the international agreements.
Fisheries commissions
At the 23rd session of the Russian-Korean Mixed Fisheries Commission the sides have agreed the conditions for fishing operations by Russian and South Korean vessels in the nations' EEZs within the mutually issued capture quotas.
At the 26th session of the Russian-Japanese Fisheries Commission the sides have discussed the fishery results in 200-mile zones of Russia and Japan. Besides, the sides have defined the capture quotas for the coming year 2010.
At the 18th Russian-Greenland Consultations on mutual relationship in the sphere of fisheries the sides have agreed the TACs 2010, in particular Russian quotas for ocean perch and black halibut have been increased.
At the 7th session of the Russian-Belarus Mixed Fisheries Commission Russia has given Belarus a quota for fishery in the Baltic and Barents Seas for the coming year 2010.
Along with the above intergovernmental agreements, on 8 December 2009 Russia's Government has approved the proposal of Russia's Federal Fisheries Agency on extension of Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of Morocco on cooperation in the sphere of marine fisheries dated 7 September 2006.
Import statistics
According to Russia's Statistics Committee, the value of imported seafood in November 2009 declined by 17.5% to 163.5 million USD versus 198 million USD in November 2008. Import of frozen fish decreased by 21.6% to 63.5 million USD, import of fish fillets fell by 53.1% to 25.5 million USD.