Lack of quality raw material on the Russian market to be compensated by US pink salmon

In early September 2010 Russian traders have been discussing a drop of salmon catches in the Russian Far East as well as low quality of products coming from Vladivostok inventories, reported http://www.megafishnet.com/ with reference to industry sources in the region.

In this situation traders are searching for alternative sources of high quality pink salmon as the reports on quality of fish in the inventories coming from their partners based in the Far East have been quite pessimistic, a representative of one of the largest trader based in Vladivostok told http://www.megafishnet.com/.

According to the market experts, too high offer price of Russian pink salmon does not correspond to the poor quality making the US pink salmon a real alternative. In its turn US pink salmon gives some winning advantages such as strict size gradation, choice of meat colour, supplies both in blocks and IQF. The US pink salmon has been popular among the Russian processors demanding for high end raw material. American pink salmon suits for canning as well as for smoking and retail trade. Mainly headless, gutted pink salmon has been supplied to Russia. Import tariff amounts to 10%. The number of American exporters which have got the license for exportation their seafood products to the Russian Federation amounts to 164 companies. As an example, Pacific Seafood and Global Seafood North America have been among those exporters to Russia which supplied frozen pink salmon to the country in 2009.

At present, share of USA-produced pink salmon on the Russian seafood market amounts to 5%.

Due to low catches of pink salmon in the USA the demand of pink salmon from foreign importers has been extremely high and no one knows what will be left for importation to Russia. Besides, final results of pink salmon raw material volumes and its quality available on the Russian market make it difficult to predict the total import volume of the pink salmon.