Outcome of pollock roe auctions in Busan on weeks 14-15 not affected by short last week
Taking an overall glimpse of the event, the ironical saying in Russian about really bad people still holds: neighbor's grief gives double joy. However bad it sounds, it is this saying which describes results of the last week of Busan roe auctions. Thanks to the tragedy of Japanese people due to natural disaster roe prices went up about 10% in comparison with 2010,
By the way, just one seller company openly expressed their regret and sorrow. Strange. We don't see any real reason for such an increase. Total production of USA and Russia is very much the same as in 2009-2010, quality - the same too. The disaster provided damage neither to roe stock nor to processing facilities. Consumption growth is related with panic and rumors, and with crazy speculations as well. The rumors will calm down in a time, that's obvious. However, price went that up.
Total volume inspected was unheard of - 6,351 MT for week 14, mainly because of a break in auctions. The figure doesn't include private inspections and direct sales. The buyers' inspectors rushed between cold storages, e.g. on Wednesday April, 6 there were 19 inspections within 7 hours. Surprise - almost all sales went smoothly and quickly. Average price was more than $9.00 per kilo (8.18 for the same quality in 2010).
The next week 15 was really short. There were inspections on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. Most buyers left for Seattle on Thursday. However, total volume for the 2 days was 3103 MT. On Friday an Tuesday there also were some private inspections - adding another 3000 MT. I.e. total volume of product inspected for today is 15.5 thousand tons.
It's worth saying that prices are really good for almost all product of almost all companies. Average price in 2011 is $8.82, 62 cents higher than a year ago. Most companies managed to increase their average price. However, the most expensive product was not the highest grades. According to some Japanese sources roes at private inspections of Polluks was absolutely top quality, but the price was lower than openly shown BAMR product, which was definitely inferior. There is no indication of Akros roe sales, though it is usual, as they always bargain for their high prices for a very long time. There are some indicators that the buyers agreed on some maximum.
Speaking about roe quality the buyers mention that some companies really improved the product, paying particular attention at sorting. Those companies who have close relations with their Japanese buyers and have a Japanese inspectors or at least send production people to the buyers' facilities produce roe really different to the rest.