Russian fishermen selling big salmon catch at best profit thanks to stable domestic and overseas demand

In October 2011, when the total salmon catch in the Russian Far East Basin has been approximating the historic record of 2009, prices for Pacific salmons on the Russian market have successfully avoided a shock fall as the fishermen have relied on stable demand and better market expertise, reports http://www.megafishnet.com/.

According to Russia's Fisheries Agency, the domestic demand has been good to keep the prices high despite the fact that the Chinese importers have already withdrawn from the market after paying in full for contracted shipments of 130,000 MT of Russian salmon in July-September 2011.

Unlike two years ago the fishery industry has now grown seriously consolidated and the fish market has been functioning in another way. Now the fishermen do not hurry to cut down their prices and quickly dispose of the stock as they are now confident that the Russian market is able to consume the increased supply of salmon. In this situation, the wholesalers have been operating at minimum margins.

More specifically, while in 2009 the wholesale prices for pink salmon would sometimes fall as deep as RUR25.00 per kilo, in the current fishing season pink salmon would fetch slightly below RUR50.00 per kilo only for a short period of time and then return to RUR55.00-57.00 per kilo.

In the European part of Russia wholesale prices fluctuate within RUR75.00-80.00 per kilo. For comparison, two years ago Moscow wholesalers offered pink salmon at RUR45.00-47.00 per kilo.

Catch

In 2009 the total salmon harvest in the Russian Far East hit a record of 538,000 MT and the result for the current year season is forecasted at up to 525,000 MT (the actual harvest as per 4 October 2011 was recorded at 511,000 MT).