Surging frozen snow crab exports from Russia to US slowdown in May

Overall American imports of frozen snow crab were at a higher level in May than in 2020. The price index has risen especially strongly, and not so much for the supply of Russian products, but for the input from the grounds off Eastern Canada, which remains the main supply source of the snow crab on the US market, reports Megafishnet.com.

The total volume of frozen snow crab imports to the United States in May exceeded last year's by 13% and reached almost 13.0 thousand tons, despite the fact that prices on average were already 75.5% higher than in 2020, reaching US$27.85/kg.

At the same time, the supply of Russian products fell by almost 31% and was limited to only about 0.65 thousand tons, while the supply of Norwegian products increased fourfold and reached about 0.22 thousand tons, and the supply of Canadian products increased by more than 1.5 thousand tons and reached 12.07 thousand tons with an increase of 15%. The average price of its imports was unprecedented for the main phase of the seasonal imports hitting more than US$28.35/kg to exceed last year's by more than 78.5%.

Meanwhile the average price of imports from Russia in May was limited to US$21.70 / kg, rising by 38.5%, and the average price of imports from Norway, even with an increase of 49.5%, was limited to US$18.65/kg. Nevertheless, some experts believe that either a bubble is shaping in the American market, which will surely burst, or users will simply get tired of chronically high prices and start switching to work with other products that are also attractive to consumers during the holidays, and then a collapse in demand will be inevitable with all the consequences that follow from it.

Nevertheless, in general, in January-May, the imports of frozen snow crab increased by 65.5% and reached almost 28.8 thousand tons, even with prices that rose by 62% and reached about US$26.40/kg, which is at least US$10.00/kg higher than the level of January-May 2020. In this development the imports from Russia increased by more than 11.5% and reached more than 5.4 thousand tons while prices rose by 25%, to US$20.65/kg, which is also a record high.

Deliveries from Norway increased by 237% and reached about 1.24 thousand tons with prices jumping by almost 34.5% to reach about US$21.65/kg.

But the most powerful growth was shown by imports from Canada, which increased by almost 85% in volume and reached about 21.69 thousand tons, and at the average price rose by 76%, to more than US$28.15/kg.

IMPORT OF FROZEN SNOW CRAB TO THE UNITED STATES IN 2020-2021.

Source: NMFS