First results of Russian pollock roe auctions in Pusan

At the very beginning of March 2010 the first round of auction sales of pollock roe was held in Pusan (Republic of Korea). The pollock roe from Russia was offered for sale prior to the beginning of auctions in Seattle apparently because of large production volumes, reports http://www.megafishnet.com/ (https://www.fishnet.ru/) with reference to the fishery sources in Vladivostok.

The similar situation was observed in 2006 when the buyers' offers were low as well. The products were offered by such companies as Pacific Andes, Turnif, OAO Pilenga (plc), Sakhalinleasingfleet, UTF (ZAO Upravlenie Tralovogo Flota) and some other smaller companies.

The Japanese buyers acted aggressively to reduce the price. There were even offers of graded roe at 3-4 USD per kilo. However the sales volume through the week totaled 1651 tonnes at the average price of 6.69 USD. In many cases the prices were much lower than in 2009. According to the Japanese inspectors, the roe from the January harvest was quite mature. The market participants said that the price level might change only after the auctions in the USA to be held on 16-19 March 2010 in Seattle. Due to the above reason none of the Russian companies offered its roe for sale in the third week of March 2010.