Four new farms launched near Saint Petersburg

This year four new commercial fish farms have been launched in Saint Petersburg and in the surrounding Leningrad Oblast with the total investments into the projects estimated at ca.4 million USD, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to Delovoy Peterburg.

The new farms have been mostly backed by Saint Petersburg investors. In particular, a group of businessmen rendering transportation services has invested about 1 million USD into construction of Galiyan farm in Slantsevsky District. The farm's design capacity exceeds 100 tonnes of market-size fish per year.

Saint-Petersburg-based companies Aqualine (producer of drinking water) and SeverSplav (scrap metal processor) have commissioned two farms in Podporozhsky District with the total production capacity designed to reach 270 tonnes per year.

Gatchina-based mixed fodder plant has established OOO Sumskoye Vodokhranilische (ltd) in Kingisepp District which is engaged in production of trout and Coregonus whitefish juveniles for fish farms. The company is now holding talks with producers based in the province and in neighboring Karelia for shipments of stocking material.

According to the market participants, the financial crisis will sooner or later hit fish producers who mostly depend on borrowed money. Still, large farmed fish producers such as Ekon, Forward and Kuznechnoye working under the OceanProduct holding will most probably survive in hard times.