Record prices for Russian live king crab in South Korea

The Russian shipments of live king crab to South Korean ports in April fell even more than those of snow crab versus last year's results, but the prices rose even more significantly. Meanwhile, the deliveries of Norwegian products by air continued to show very strong growth, but their activity was still quite limited, and the price level was also significantly lower than in the case of the Russian exports, reports Megafishnet.com.

According to Japanese media reports, the Russian supplies, which in January reached 0.5 thousand tons or more, fell by 55% to 0.2 thousand tons in February, and in March did not reach this level. In April they decreased by another 3% and were limited to only about 0.19 thousand tons.

Compared to April 2020 the Russian supplies of live snow crab to South Korea also sank quite strongly, by more than 30%, but still maintained a fairly high activity, amounting to about 0.6 thousand tons.  The supply of king crab, which is carried out according to the code of other live crabs, fell to a very low level, falling compared to last year by more than 65%, that is, almost three times.

In terms of value, however, the fall in April was not so disastrous due to record high prices. The average import price (CIF), which had already risen very high in January, then continued to rise all three months in a row, in March for the first time in recent years rising to the level of US$50.00 / kg and above, and in April it rose by almost 10% and reached more than US$57.10/kg.

Accordingly, the value of imports, although it fell by 43.5%, but not three times, reached more than US$10.7 million. In comparison with the prices for Norwegian supplies, the import prices of Russian products in April were higher by almost US$11.00/kg.

The overall level of import prices of Russian products for January-April 2021 increased compared to 2020. by almost 46.5% and reached US$46.90/kg, while the import prices of Norwegian products, whose supplies increased by 35% to 0.22 thousand tons, rose by only 15% and were limited to the level of US$44.40/kg.

Imports of Russian products fell, however, by 46% and amounted to less than 1.13 thousand tons. Because of this, the total volume of imports under the live crab code sank by at least 15.5%, to less than 4.05 thousand tons, despite the fact that Chinese supplies at still very low prices at only US$3.00/kg increased by 5% and reached more than 2.65 thousand tons.

The total volume of South Korean imports of live crab this year at the beginning of May was approximately 10% less than in 2020, although it reached the level of 6.5 thousand tons. The share of Russian products, which in January-April last year was more than 62%, this year narrowed to 55%, although the supply of live snow crab despite the relatively low figure in April increased by 3.5% and reached 2.47 thousand tons. The total volume of live crab imports from Russia decreased by almost 19.5%, amounting to less than 3.60 thousand tons.