Overview of freshfrozen fish market of Moscow as per late August 2008

As per late August 2008 players of the freshfrozen fish market of Moscow were focusing mostly on the results of the salmon season in the Russian Far East. August catches already appeared in Moscow, and the new season price of pink salmon and chum salmon was expected to be formed in the coming weeks, analysts of http://www.fishnet-russia.com/ (https://www.fishnet.ru/)  concluded after analyzing the current situation on the market.

Along with salmons, the capital's traders also offered a large stock of headed and gutted Alaska pollock, all sizes, and double frozen fillets made in China.

Gaining popularity Pangasius catfish was present practically in all wholesale price-lists, and prices for the species were gradually decreasing.

The traders reported about a lack of Icelandic herring flaps and large-size Norwegian mackerel.

According a spokesman from one large Moscow-based importer, the general growth of prices of all fish products imported into Russia could be attributed to the following factors:

• 1. Higher fuel prices as compared to 2007;
• 2. Higher USD exchange rate;
• 3. Higher customs indications;
• 4. Higher cost of freight from production country to Russia;
• 5. Rising activity of other purchasing countries;
• 6. Problems on the fishing grounds (fishery delays, poor catches, fishery closure, etc.)

Salmons

As per late August the salmon season 2008 was coming to an end. Moscow fish companies were closely watching the fishery progressing, and by the middle of August many traders thought that the catch volume would not reach the forecasted amount. As per 22 August 2008, the fishermen of Kamchatka harvested 90,000 tonnes of Pacific salmons, or more than 73% of the harvest, according to the Northeast territorial department of the State Fisheries Agency.

The salmon season in Sakhalin was practically closed. As per 25 August 2008 the fishing companies based in the islands harvested more than 64,400 tonnes of salmons, in excess of 53% of the quotas.

In the Kuriles the fishermen kept actively harvesting salmons, however bad weather conditions were expected most probably to impede take-up of the TAC in the subarea.

Meanwhile, in Alaska the salmon fishery has been weak since the start of the season. Still, as per 22 August 2008, the harvest of pink salmon all over in the state approached the targeted 66 million salmons. The harvest of coho and chum salmons was also reported as good. The largest decrease was forecasted for sockeye.

Pink salmon

Due to the above mentioned reasons and some other factors prices for frozen pink salmon on the Moscow market did not fall despite increasing supply of new catches. The buyers insisted on prices at about RUB60.00 per kilo of head-on and gutted pink salmon 1-1.5 kilos. As per 25 August 2008, the prices reached RUB70.00 per kilo for the first product lots, which were normally more expensive than the main season products. The minimum price of silver-side pink salmon from August catch was reported at RUB57.00 per kilo of the size 1.5-2 kg. However, the industry insiders thought that by October 2008 the prices would evidently reach RUB60.00 and 65.00 per kilo. The quality of fresh pink salmon used as raw material for processing was reported as surprisingly good with the size of harvested fish being large and the flesh being firm. The prices of w/r pink salmon from July harvest fluctuated from RUB70.00 to 77.50 per kilo.

Moscow traders also offered pink salmon from the last year harvest. Prices of 1-grade w/r pinks harvested in June-July 2007 amounted to RUB36.00-38.00 per kilo, but there were some problems with the necessary papers and product quality.

The level of prices of newly harvested pink salmon could be attributed not only to exhaustion of all the quotas, but to other factors as well:

• 1. Growing raw fish cost caused by increased fuel prices as compared to last year.
• 2. Smaller supply of US and Japanese salmon on the Russian market on last year. The weak supply could be also attributed to the catch situation in those countries. For instance, pink salmon of the Japanese origin was sold on the nation's market to cover for the internal consumption capacity.

Alaska pinks were mostly exported to Japan and China due to growing USD exchange rate. As the Russian importers failed to compete with the Ukrainian and the Chinese companies, the US exporters correspondingly sold their fish to those countries which could afford higher prices.

• 3. Higher cost of railway freight from Vladivostok to Central Russia.
• 4. Higher cost of sea freight from Kamchatka (Sakhalin) to Vladivostok.

The second above factor increased activity of the Russian importers in the Russian Far East thus resulting into strengthening of the demand for salmon from the Russian Far East and consequently the rise of sale prices from producers.

Besides, taking into account the lack of catch volumes, the producer had to cover its fishery associated expenses via higher sale prices.

Chum salmon

As per late August 2008 the Moscow chum salmon market was driven by the same factors which commanded prices for pink salmon. More specifically, prices for chum salmon head-on gutted from the new catch fluctuated from RUB70.00 to RUB75.00 per kilo. The supply of chum salmon was weak so far with the fishery still progressing in Sakhalin (Rybnovsk) and Kamchatka. At the same time, traders said that the fishery situation did not influence the price level greatly. The US chum salmon from the last year harvest was marketed in Moscow at RUB70.00 per kilo.

First-grade head-on gutted chum harvested in October 2007 was offered at RUB60.00-63.00 per kilo. There were also offers of headed chum salmon 3-4 kg from the harvest of 2007 at RUB49.00 per kilo.

Salmon roe

In late August Moscow wholesalers started actively offering salted salmon roe from the current season of 2008. Prices for salmon roe fluctuated from RUB1100 to 1400 per kilo.

Herring

According to foreign sources, the herring inventories of exporters were low by late August. In January-July 2008 the harvest of herring in Iceland amounted to nearly 105,000 tonnes, 15,500 tonnes up on the respective period of last year.

As per late August, Moscow traders offered herring flaps from Iceland with the stock to be delivered to Moscow by 1 September 2008. In late August the supply of the product was limited and the average price of herring flaps of 6-10 count amounted to ca.RUB48.00 per kilo.

The Norwegian herring was offered in Moscow at the following prices: RUB41.00-48.0 per kilo of the size 350+, RUB48.50-55.00 per kilo of the size 400+.

There were also herring flaps of the Faroese origin. The product prices fluctuated from RUB43.00 to RUB46.00 depending on the size. Just like whole herring, there was a shortage of the herring fillet supply on the domestic market. The market specialists were sure that prices of imported herring and herring fillets would not remain at the level of 2007 due to the following reasons:

• 1. Higher fuel prices as compared to 2007;
• 2. Higher USD exchange rate;
• 3. Higher customs indications;
• 4. Higher cost of freight from production country to Russia;
• 5. Rising activity of other purchasing countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, etc.;
• 6. Delayed start of the fishing season due to weak migration of fish concentrations to the fishing grounds.

Mackerel

In late August 2008 fairly large concentrations of mackerel were reported along the Norwegian coast. Allowed minimum prices increased by NOK0.50 (USD0.10) per kilo in the end of June 2008, but that did not reflect the market situation in general.

According to foreign sources, in the beginning of 2008 the Norwegian export of mackerel to Russia went down. Besides, as reported by the market players, in 2008 no big supplies of large size mackerel were observed on the Moscow market. As per late August, the start of mackerel fishery was delayed till mid-September 2008. Trial tows disclosed concentrations of small size mackerel 250 grams, therefore the fishery was forecasted to peak in the second half of September.

Along with the above, catches of mackerel in Japan were reported as poor. Just like the situation with herring, cold store inventories of mackerel were low, and taking into account the above mentioned reasons influencing herring prices the importers thought that a rise of mackerel prices was inevitable.

As per 25 August 2008, the supply of mackerel was low in Moscow.

Russian mackerel 200-300 was offered at RUB69.00 per kilo.

Prices for Norwegian mackerel 300-500 amounted to ca.RUB108.00 per kilo. Mackerel 400-600 was traded at RUB115.00 per kilo.

Scottish mackerel 200-400 was offered from RUB80.00 to RUB82.00 per kilo, while the size 300-500 was marketed from RUB90.00 per kilo.

Japanese mackerel head-off 400-600 was sold at RUB100.00 per kilo.

Baltic sprat, Baltic herring

As per late August, Moscow traders offered both Russian sprat and imported sprat.

Kaliningrad sprat was traded at RUB23.50-26.00 per kilo. Estonian and Swedish sprat was sold at RUB21.50-22.00 per kilo/

Kaliningrad herring 18+ was offered at RUB29.50. Finnish herring 16-18 was marketed at RUB30.00-32.00 per kilo. Prices of Swedish herring amounted to RUB27.00 per kilo of the size 16+ and RUB30.00 per kilo of the size 18+.

Capelin

As per late August 2008, in Moscow Norwegian capelin 45/55 was offered from RUB31.00 to RUB38 per kilo, while the count 40/50 was traded at RUB34.00 per kilo.

Canadian capelin 30/40 was sold at RUB38.00-42.00 per kilo.

The capelin fishery in Iceland turned out to be poor with only 149,000 tonnes harvested in January-July 2008, 158,700 tonnes down on 308,000 tonnes on the same period last year. Moscow traders offered very few supplies of Icelandic capelin. One large supplier was trading in capelin harvested in August 2008 at RUB20.00 per kilo.

Blue whiting

As per late August 2008, price offers of Russian blue whiting in Moscow ranged at ca.RUB25.00-25.50 per kilo. There were offers of capelin from Ireland at RUB23.00 per kilo.

Alaska pollock

As per late August 2008, the situation with the Alaska pollock supply in Moscow was fairly good. The average prices of headed and gutted pollock amounted to ca.RUB50.00 per kilo. Alaska pollock 250+was sold from RUB40.00 to RUB45.00 per kilo, while the sizes 300+ and 350+ were offered from RUB42.00 and at RUB48.00-55.00 correspondingly. As for APO fillets, as usual the market was full of double frozen pollock fillets made in China. In particular, IQF fillets 8+ (220+) were marketed from RUB59.00 to RUB80.00 per kilo. Prices for the Chinese fillets settled mostly at RUB70.00 per kilo.

Hake

According to the fishery industry insiders, all the hake fishing nations have been facing a decrease of catches, therefore the market prices for the product have been appreciating.

As for the USA, the National Marine Fisheries Service of the USA announced a closure of the commercial hake fishery on the Pacific coast of the country already as of 19 August 2008, or long before the capture quota exhaustion.

The catch data as per the moment of the official closure of the commercial fishery were not published, but as per the start of the second decade of August 2008, or approximately one week before the fishery closure, the total harvest under the commercial capture quota did not reach even 50% of the quota and amounted to 113,000 tonnes only. At the same time, the shipowners reported more or less good results, the harvest of motherships and factory trawlers reached 90,000 and approached 70% of the quota (motherships as the most active participants of the fishery contributed 44,000 tonnes to the harvest with their quota take-up reaching 80%).

Against the above background, prices for the US hake were growing. As per late August, Moscow traders always had on offer supplies of hake from the USA, Canada, Argentina, and Uruguay.

More specifically, Canadian HGT hake was offered from RUB75.00 to RUB80.00 per kilo. Argentinean interleaved hake was marketed at RUB102.00-106.00 per kilo, while Argentinean hake fillets were available at RUB110.00-140.00 per kilo. American HGT hake was traded at RUB73.00-80.00 per kilo. Uruguayan hake was offered in the form of fillets in cubes at RUB66.00-80.00 per kilo.

Squid

As per late August 2008, tubes of squid harvested in the Russian Far East in 2008 were offered in Moscow at RUB78.00-96.00 per kilo. There were also offers of skinned tubes made by Vladivostok-based NBAMR at RUB120.00-125.00 per kilo.

Squid tubes made by another Vladivostok-based producer Akros and harvested in September-October 2007 were sold at RUB48.00-56.00 per kilo.

Due to the current prices of the Russian squid the imported alternative put up a strong competition. More specifically, New Zealand squid tubes 200-300 were offered at RUB50.00-55.00 per kilo, Peruvian squid fillets were traded at RUB40.00 per kilo, and Chinese squid tubes U5-U7 were marketed at RUB59.00-65.00 per kilo.

Argentinean Illex squid tubes were available at RUB50.00-70.00 per kilo.

Pangasius

As per late August 2008, Vietnam kept boosting its sales of pangasius catfish to Russia. According to VASEP, in July 2008 pangasius export from Vietnam to Russia grew 64-fold on July 2007. At the same time, the export prices for the product decreased approximately by 10.8% from the start of the year.

The above information could be proved by the price dynamics on the Moscow market. Prices of pangasius in transit to cold stores were approximately 10% down than prices of pangasius stored from previous supplies.

As per late August 2008, on the Moscow market there were very many offers of the most popular product - pangasius fillets 200+. The prices varied from RUB60.00 to RUB96.00 per kilo depending on the fillets' color. More specifically, white fillets were sold at RUB90.00-95.00 per kilo, and pink fillets were traded at RUB64.00-75.00 per kilo. The average market prices amounted to ca.RUB85.00 per kilo.

Moscow traders also offered other pangasius products such as HGT at RUB90.00-95.00 per kilo, steaks at ca.RUB50.00, and fillets in cubes at ca.RUB65.00 per kilo.