Fleet and factory renewal will profit from soft bank loans

The government will compensate two thirds of the interest rates of the commercial loans for the industry, according to Russian fishery head Andrey Krainy as quoted Kommersant.

The State Fisheries Committee has calculated that there is a need in large loans of ca.RUB60-70 billion with the interest rates to amount to 4% per year. The industry is very capital-intensive and if the fishermen do not have access to cheap loans, the industry will not develop, Krainy underlined.

Along these lines, the State Fisheries Committee has signed an agreement with Russia's Agricultural Bank Rosselkhozbank which is ready to provide the fishery enterprises with loans at a total sum of RUB50 billion at 12% per year. Thus, the industry will be well provided with bank loans to finance development of the industry's sectors of fishing, processing and consolidation.

At present the need of consolidation is quite high. Now there are ca.3700 vessels and ca.5000 companies in Russia, an unprecedented number of participants for any market.