Overview of emerging scallop market in Russia

From various trading sources in Russia signals are coming that the demand for scallops has been rising and a market for this dearly item has been emerging especially in the Russian capital.

However, it is difficult to estimate the size of the market in this article because of currently incomplete data from the Russian North Fisheries and because of no reliable estimates of unreported supply.

The product is partly procured through imports and partly through domestic production, both farmed and wild. In particular, several Moscow companies have been working to establish respective purchase contacts with suppliers of Kurile scallops in the Russian Far East from the wild fisheries and from Nereida farm in Primorye province (capital Vladivostok).

Import

Through the first six months of the current year 2006 Russian importers have more than doubled their purchases of sea scallops from the international producers. In absolute figures, imports have grown from 50.444 tonnes in January-June 2005 to 102.587 tonnes this year.

Denmark, China and USA have been leading exporters of sea scallops to Russia in volume terms, while in value terms the first three places have distributed in a slightly different way with the USA taking the first place followed by Denmark and China.

Tables 1-4: Russian provisional import statistics on sea scallops for the first half of 2005-2006

Note: Compiled by www.fishnet.ru from provisional figures of Russia’s Federal Customs Service (final figures will differ 1%-3% upwards)

030721 - Sea scallops live, fresh or chilled, including small scallops of the families of Pecten, Chlamys or Placopecten

0307291 - great scallops Pecten maximus, frozen

0307299 - Other

030721 + 030729 - Sea scallops total

In the recent months the Norwegian exporters have been showing a large interest in the Russian market of sea scallops and now they are actively scrutinizing the market capacity.

Taking into account the growing potential of the scallop market of Russia and Moscow, in particular, the Russian producers have been increasingly trying to get a share of the potentially lucrative market. For example, the nation’s largest Primorye-based producer of farmed scallops OOO NPKA Nereida (ltd) has opened an office in Moscow in order to boost its sales on the domestic market.

As per 4 August 2006 the company’s Moscow office offered the following scallop products at prices as below:

Along with the above, Nereida offers the following scallop products to the customer order:

-          live sea scallops in shells;

-          sea scallop fillets (chilled);

-          scallop roes frozen in one-kilo packs;

-          sea scallop milts frozen in one-kilo packs;

-          scallop mantle frozen in one-kilo packs;

-          scallop muscle and gonad frozen on a valve (half-shell) in five-kilo packs.

The company is ready to supply its scallop range as well as salmon caviar and marine delicatessen to restaurants, sushi-bars, supermarkets and retail outlets.

Moscow

According to Nereida, the sea scallop market in Moscow is comparably young (about three or four years old), though an erroneous stereotype of perceiving the high quality product has been already formed there. Moscow customers think that large white scallops are the most tasty and the product is therefore sought by the restaurants. In the meantime, Nereida specialists explain that white scallops are just one of two fishable scallop species, which are actually inferior in terms of taste and nutritive substances.

Besides, Nereida continues, the size of scallops is in strong dependence on its age and breeding conditions. The ideal age of eatable scallops is 2.5-3 years. That is the age when sea scallops have maximum nutritive value and their count amounts to 30-40 per kilo.

After the above age of 3 years the scallop meat starts ageing and by the age of 5-7 years it loses more than a half of its healthy minerals and biologically active substances thanks to which the product is highly appreciated in Asia, for instance. Moreover, meat of adult scallops become tougher than that of young scallops of under 3 years old. According to Nereida, none of Korean companies will purchase sea scallops of the count of 10-20 per kilo. That is why large volumes of such count not demanded on the traditional world markets have poured onto the Moscow market.

Among other factors instrumental in formation of the above stereotype of sea scallop consumption in Moscow Nereida points to the technical moment of gaining profit from each particular dish and the aesthetic presentation of meals in high-end restaurants: thermal treatment makes scallops just like other similar product smaller in size and it is obviously aesthetically more impressive to place one comparably large mollusk surrounded by vegetables and sauces on a plate than several smaller specimens.

About scallops

Nereida specialists say that Russian consumers are still poorly aware of the product. According to numerous consumer polls, sea scallops are perceived as something in between sea horse and sea cucumber.

Marine delicatessen similar in product category and content are whelks, squid, oysters and mussels.

Sea scallops are dietetic shellfish with high content of protein and low content of calories, fat and carbohydrates and a large number of highly assimilating minerals (2 grams per 100 grams) such as iodine, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese, zinc, cobalt, etc.

Sea scallops contain 150 times more iodine than beef and at the same time the product does not belong to meat category and assimilates much quicker and easier.

The product’s nutritive value per 100 grams is as follows: protein – 19 grams, fat – 0.9 gram, carbohydrate – 3 grams. The food value is 92 kcal per 100 grams.

Scallops’ delicate taste and high content of healthy micro elements have successfully encouraged its sales on the domestic market. Scallop meat contains vitamin B12, riboflavin and thiamine. Besides, it is a fine source of calcium with the valves containing 98.2% of calcium carbonate. Biocalcium is not toxic and it produces no adverse reaction in the human organism. Sea scallops are regarded a healthy product also because they reduce the content of cholesterol in blood, while their high content of B-vitamins is salutary for the nervous system. Their high biological value and large content of iodine have made it possible to recommend the product for those ill with atherosclerosis. Overweight people are also recommended to include sea scallops into their daily meals.

Domestic production

According to Dalryba’s analytical figures, this year sea scallop fishery in the waters of the Russian Far East has been a little better than last year with the total harvest since the start of the year to 28 September 2006 inclusive amounting to 1398.281 metric tons (264.586 up from 1133.695 tonnes in the same period 2005).

In the year 2005 the harvest of wild sea scallops in the Russian Far East amounted to 2800 metric tons including 2100 tonnes contributed by the North Kuriles, 270 tonnes – South Kuriles, 280 tonnes – East Sakhalin and 130 contributed by Primorye and West Sakhalin.

According to provisional figures based on daily vessel reports coming from the grounds, the Russian fleets landed 259.6 tonnes of raw scallops and 155.6 tonnes of scallop fillets for the domestic market. The above volumes included correspondingly 0.1 tonnes and 54.7 tonnes landed by the vessels based in Primorye (capital Vladivostok), 194.8 tonnes and 82.8 tonnes by Sakhalin-based ships, 0 tonne and 6.7 tonnes by Kamchatka-based vessels and 64.7 tonnes and 11.3 tonnes by the Khabarovsk fishermen.

Along with the above, the fleets exported 20.1 tonnes of raw scallops and 189.1 tonnes of frozen fillets to the international market. The above supply included 0.08 tonne of scallop fillets delivered to Japan by Sakhalin-based vessels, while the remaining volumes were landed to South Korea (namely, Primorye-based fleets exported 20.1 tonnes of raw scallops, while the vessels based in Sakhalin and Kamchatka correspondingly exported 3.6 tonnes and 185.5 tonnes of scallop fillets).

Resource

Sea scallop is a bivalve mollusk of the family of Pectinacea which is divided into four subspecies and have some 26 genera. Sea scallop shell is 15-20 cm in diameter. The species inhabit nearly all the seas of the World Ocean. Fifteen scallop species inhabit the Black Sea and the sea of the Russian North and Far East Fisheries. Some scallop species are harvested and cultured.

Two commercial scallop species

The sea scallop family of Pectinidae include such well-known species as Mizuhopecten yessoensis and Chlamys nipponensis, North American scallop Placopecten tnagellanicus and some other commercial species. According to various sources, 5-8 scallop species of the Pectinidae family inhabit the waters of Kamchatka, but only two of them are commercially important:

-          white scallop Chlamys albida (Dall, 1906) inhabiting the Asian part of the Pacific Ocean from South Sakhalin and South Kuriles to the Bering Strait including the Sea of Okhotsk, Commander and Aleut Islands, in the US waters – from the southeast part of the Chuckchee Sea (the Icy Cape) to the south approximately to the 54th degree North (Scarlato, 1981).

-          Bering scallop Chlamys behringiana (Middendorf, 1849) inhabiting the Asian part of the Pacific Ocean (Primorye subarea, waters of Hokkaido, Sakhalin, Kurile Islands); the Sea of Okhotsk (but for the Shelikhov Bay) from the South Kamchatka to the Bering Strait; the US waters from the southeast part of the Chuckchee Sea (the Icy Cape) to the south of the Pudget Sound. The species is also found in the Arctic Ocean in the Sea of Beaufort (Scarlato, 1981).

Species and stocks in the Russian Far East

Japanese scallop Patinopecten yessoensis inhabits the waters of North Primorye, West Sakhalin, the South Kurile shallow waters and the Sea of Okhotsk. The stocks are estimated at 2000-7000 metric tons.

Swift scallop Swiftopecten swifti inhabits the waters of North Primorye, the Tatar Strait. The stock has potential for fishery as its abundance is estimated at up to 11,000 tonnes.

Japanese scallop Chlamys farreri nipponensis is a Pacific, subasian, subtropical, uppersublittoral species inhabiting the Sea of Japan. The stock has potential for fishery.

Pink scallop Chlamys rosealbus inhabits the inshore waters of North Primorye, the South Kurile shallow waters. This is a low-boreal, sublittoral-batial abundant species. The stock of pink scallops in the waters of North Primorye can fluctuate from 9700 to 16,000 tonnes.

White scallop Chlamys albidus inhabits the upper bathyal zone. It is an ellitoral species harvested in the waters of the Onekotan Islands. The species also inhabits the area from the Simushir Island to the Olyutorsk Bay. The largest concentrations have been found at the Onekotan and Paramushir Islands, the southeast shore of the Iturup Island, in the northern part of the Tatar Strait and the Sea of Okhotsk including the Tauisky Guba and Pezhinsky Bay, the waters of the Commander and Aleut Islands. On the markets of Southeast Asia traders offer the scallop’s muscle and mantle. The average volume of the resource has been fluctuating from 51,000 to 86,000 tonnes.

Bering scallop Chlamys behringianus is a Pacific upper-boreal abundant species. The fishery is normally conducted in the waters of the Onekotan Island. The species occurs in the Sea of Okhotsk (Bays of Aniva and Sakhalin, the coastal waters of South Kamchatka), the Bering Sea as well as the Pacific waters of East Kamchatka, the islands of Paramushir and Shikotan. The stock’s abundance is estimated at ca.3000 metric tons.

Alaska scallop Parvamuseum alaskensis inhabits the Sea of Japan – Primorye subarea and waters of West Sakhalin – and the Sea of Okhotsk as well as the waters of Kurile Islands, East Kamchatka and the northwest part of the Bering Sea. The resource is poorly studied.

Russian North Fisheries Basin

In the Russian North Fisheries Basin the fleets target Icelandic scallops Chlamys islandicus. Catches of the species in the year 2005 amounted to 3300 metric tons. The TAC for the current year 2006 has been set at 4100 tonnes.

According to VNIRO research institute, the Russian fishery for Icelandic scallops Chlamys islandicus has been conducted since 1990 on the concentrations located in the southeast part of the Barents Sea, that is exclusively in the Russian EEZ. The resource estimated at 550,000-790,000 tonnes sustained recommended catch from 4700 to 13,800 tonnes. A decrease of daily catch rates from 31-28 to 25 tonnes in the year 2000 and further down to 16.7 and 15 tonnes in the years 2001 and 2002 has confirmed a decrease of the fishable stock and the need of reducing the fishing efforts. The most abundant fishing stock of Icelandic scallop on the Svyatoy Nos settlement has decreased nearly two-fold through the recent years.

Source: VNIRO, except for data for the year 2005 (PINRO)

Aquaculture

One of the ways of sea scallop production is its commercial culture in the so called sea gardens. That is the way how already for a number of years the shellfish has been produced in Japan, Korea, China, the USA, Canada and Norway because the wild stocks have been completely ruined (like in Asia) or protected by a fishery ban (like in the USA).

Specialists think scallop culture has a big potential for development in the future because it enables strict control of the product quality, size, terms of harvesting with the use of the newest aquaculture technology. Another important advantage of scallop culture is reliable quality and continuous availability in cold stores.

Russia’s scallop culture is based in Primorye, and the number of scallop farms has tripled since 2003, reaching 40 farms in 2004.

Now, scallop culture is seen as a potentially lucrative business for the region. Being a very valuable species, Yesso scallop is enjoying a high demand on the export markets.

The production of farmed scallop reached 450 tonnes in 2004. The main part of the output (375 tonnes) came from the largest Primorye-based farm Nereida Aquaculture JSC.

Almost all the output of the year 2004 was exported to the Republic of Korea but since then the Russian market for the product has also been growing.

Nereida

OOO NPKA Nereida (ltd) has been engaged in commercial culture of sea scallops for export to Korea, China and Japan since 1997.

According to Nereida, export supplies of sea scallops are strictly regulated by product quality, size, colour and, which is the most important, by age and freshness. The company’s scallops have gained reputation of meeting all the above mentioned requirements as cultured under the technologies and experience of the Asian peoples who have got a centuries-old tradition of scallop consumption, Nereida claims.

The company was established under the initiative of the investment projects sector of the Khasansky District of Primorsky Krai via integration of Russian scientists and interested businessmen.

Now Nereida is engaged in reproduction and commodity culture of marine species, both animals and seaweed, under modern industrial mariculture technologies. More specifically, the company cultures and processes sea scallops, mussels, trepang (sea cucumbers), crabs and laminaria.

The firm’s plantations are located in the Sea of Japan, in the Posjeta Bay, in the Kitovyi Bay on the total area of 5400 allocated for the purposes. The area has been exploited by Nereida since 2000 when the company harvested 107 million scallop spat. However, that year due to the lack of working capital the company sorted out and stocked in cages only 47 million spat, while the remaining harvest was released into sea in order to improve abundance and restore its wild population. At present the company offers stocking material of up to 20 million young scallops.

More information from:

OOO NPKA Nereida (ltd); Str.2, Dom 72, Ul. Krasnobogatyrskaya, Moscow, Russia; tel.: +7 495 7460555, 7436124